RE:Car-T TCell competition - Adaptimmune ESMO One company getting a lot of attention at EMSO seems to be Relay therapeutics. Their lead drug might be heading for an early approval. It targets a very specific group of breast cancer patient with a specific mutation. The suggestion is at least 8000 patients. It seems to do it very well with an 88% ORR. It has a market cap over $3 billion and just announced it's going to try raise $300 mil. From what I can see they are still at fairly low enrolled patient numbers.
I guess this shows the power of defining your target population especially when you have a drug with this sort of potency. THTX starting broad does not necessarily mean it will stay broad. Broad or narrowly focused both work. We will know THTX's eventual path forward once they have the data.
Wino115 wrote: The rather complex T-Cell immunology approach to solid tumors got a read today from Adapimmune. The whole CAR-T approach to dealing with tumors has been fairly hot over the last 3-4 years and is one of those competitive technologies that PKIB or someone identified as an issue to follow.
In summary, their P1 trial called SURPASS was an all-comers in solid tumors, so like THTX. They are testing on ovarian, gastro, urothelial, head/neck and synovial sarcoma. So far it shows:
ORR of 33% (14 of 43 patients)
Durability: 3 months, with 7 patients still ongoing so trending higher.
Safety: Biggest concern with 2 related death and Grade 3+ AEs at 9%. They had 25% with Grade 3 Cytopenia.
Ovarian Efficacy: ORR of 36% (5/14) with 1 complete response.
Head Neck: ORR 75% (3/4)
Urothelial: ORR 57% (4/7) with 1 uncomfirmed response
Gastro: ORR 15% (2/13)
Conclusion for this competitor is while it shows clinical activity, it's fairly average and not too competitive with other therapies, but safety remains a concern.
I would think this is the kind of reporting we might see with the basket trial -- some aggregate overall numbers and then the cancer breakdown with RECIST data. The above numbers were good enough in Ovarian that the company is saying they will do a Phase 2 in that cancer. A year a go they had a market cap around $1bil. Today it's around $300mil. Been a tough go for them and these numbers don't scream "high probability successful commercialization".