A clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, 4D pharma, pioneering the development of Live Biotherapeutic Products, has made a deal with a subsidiary of Merck to conduct a clinical trial evaluating the combination of Keytruda, an anti-PD-1 therapy marketed by MSD (Merck), and 4D’s live biotherapeutic candidate MRx0518 in patients with solid tumours.
As said in 4D’s press release, its lead oncology programme, MRx0518, has shown therapeutic potential in a variety of tumour types in pre-clinical models and has the potential for synergy in combination with checkpoint inhibitor therapies. The phase I study will evaluate safety, tolerability and preliminary clinical benefit of the combination of KEYTRUDA with MRx0518 in patients who progressed on prior PD-1 inhibitor therapy with renal, bladder, melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer, 4D said.
Duncan Peyton, founder and Chief Executive Officer of 4D, said that there is reason to believe in strong scientific rationale for evaluating the company’s lead oncology programme MRx0518, in combination with a checkpoint inhibitor. “We are excited to work with MSD and look forward to collaborating on this project,” he added.