Bristol-Myers Squibb and Transgene Test Cancer Drug

Bristol-Myers Squibb has announced another collaboration to use Opdivo in a combination cancer treatment, this time working with French biotech Transgene. The potential new therapy for advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) would combine Transgene’s investigational vaccine TG4010 with Opdivo, which is designed to alleviate immune suppression.

The collaboration will assess the safety, tolerability and efficacy of the combined therapy, together with standard chemotherapy, as a first-line treatment for patients with advanced NSCLC where tumors have low or undetectable levels of PD-L1. TG4010 is designed to generate an immune response against tumors that express MUC1, such as NSCLC.

Transgene will sponsor the Phase 2 trial, while Bristol-Myers Squibb will provide Opdivo for use in the study. First results are expected in 2018. “Based on the results obtained with TG4010 in a large Phase 2b trial (TIME trial) in combination with chemotherapy, we are hopeful that this triple combination regimen could provide a treatment option for patients with advanced NSCLC,” said Philippe Archinard, Transgene’s chairman and CEO.

Earlier this month, the US pharma announced it was trialling Opdivo in combination with Apexigen’s humanized monoclonal antibody APX005M to treat patients with advanced solid tumors.