Following the monotherapy of gastric cancer and adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC), Rivoceranib confirmed meaningful results in clinical first phase of the combined therapy with Nivolumab (Opdivo).

Elevar Therapeutics announced the results of Phase 1 clinical trials with the combination of Rivoceranib and Opdivo at the 2020 Interactive Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS) meeting on the 19^th. CTOS is a cancer society in which connective tissue tumor related specialists and clinical experts participate, and the meeting has been held every year since its establishment in 1997. This year, it is being conducted online from November 18th to 20th due to COVID 19.

The combined clinical trials of Rivoceranib and Opdivo were conducted on patients with progressive solid cancer that was ineligible or metastasized, and 77% of the clinical participants were patients of sarcoma and other patients with gastric and cervical cancer were included. In Part 1, the dose of Rivoceranib was determined, in Part 2, Rivoceranib was taken daily (300g), and Opdivo was administered every two weeks (240g) to confirm safety and efficacy.

As a result, it showed 76.7% of the Case Control Rate (DCR), 13.3% of the Overall Response Rate (ORR) and 7.2 months of Progress-free Survival (PFS), with predictable side effects and no additional side effects due to the combination.

Dr. Steven Norton, Elevar's chief development officer, said, "The results show that Rivoceranib is more secure when combined with checkpoint inhibitors such as Opdivo, while further enhancing the effectiveness of it" and added, "as the high combined effects of Rivoceranib and Opdivo have been confirmed, we expect additional combined clinical trials for various solid cancers to proceed."

Opdivo is a large-scale immune anticancer drug with sales of 7.1 billion USD last year and is currently being prescribed for 11 indications including lung cancer, colon cancer, and liver cancer. Rivoceranib is proceeding with the first-line Global Clinical 3 phase of liver cancer as a combination therapy with Camrelizumab of China's Hengrui Medicine, the same mechanism as Opdivo. The results have once again confirmed the efficacy of Rivoceranib, which normalizes blood vessels around the tumor, increases the delivery rate of anti-cancer drugs, and lowers the PD-1 expression of immune cells in the tumor to increase the effectiveness of the immuno-cancer drugs.

A HLB official said, "Rivoceranib is a new blood vessel inhibitor, which has proved to be more effective not only in monotherapy but also in combination therapy. We will more actively review the clinical trials with immuno-cancer drugs for various solid cancers in addition to gastric cancer, liver cancer, colon cancer, and ACC."