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 19th.
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."