Chi-Med to get $10 million milestone from AstraZeneca after initiation of expanded Phase II trials in NSCLC
pharmafile | June 20, 2016 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | AstraZeneca, Chi-Med, Iressa, Tagrisso, drug trial, lung cancer
Hutchison China MediTech (Nasdaq: HCM) on Monday said it is expanding Phase II trials in non-small cell lung cancer to include the selective c-Met inhibitor savolitinib.
The initiation of the expanded Phase II study has triggered a $10 million milestone payment to Hutchison MediPharma, a unit of Chi-Med, under the terms of the agreement with UK drugmaker AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN).
Susan Galbraith, senior vice president, head of oncology innovative medicines, AstraZeneca, said: “Savolitinib is a highly selective c-Met inhibitor that is being investigated in a number of cancers including in patients with lung cancer whose disease is driven by aberrant c-Met / HGF signaling. We are extremely excited by the data we have seen for savolitinib when used in combination with our EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors. We are committed to advancing research to develop a broad range of potential treatment options for patients with lung cancer.”
HMP and AstraZeneca are conducting Phase II studies in NSCLC with savolitinib in monotherapy, as well as in combination with either Tagrisso or Iressa (gefitinib).
This expansion was initiated following encouraging early data from a number of patients enrolled in the mid-stage study who received savolitinib in combination with Tagrisso. Savolitinib has the potential to address c-Met-driven subsets of NSCLC, a disease that is estimated to afflict about 1.7 million new patients annually worldwide, the company said in a statement.
Christian Hogg, chief executive officer of Chi-Med, said: “We believe that savolitinib either as a monotherapy in first-line NSCLC, or in proprietary combinations with AstraZeneca’s Iressa and Tagrisso in second- and third-line NSCLC, will address the key genetic drivers of cancer cell proliferation in these very difficult-to-treat NSCLC patients. We are hopeful about proceeding into Phase III in 2017 based on future data from this study.”
The trial is a single-arm global Phase II study of savolitinib in combination with Tagrisso in advanced NSCLC patients who have developed resistance to approved EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors.
Anjali Shukla
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