14 March 2018 - - Copenhagen, Denmark-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company IO Biotech has entered into a collaborative agreement with Kenilworth, New Jersey-based global healthcare solutions provider Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, through a subsidiary, focused on the clinical evaluation of IO102 with Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the company said.
IO Biotech's lead candidate, IO102, is an indolamine 2,3 dehydrogenase (IDO)-derived immune modulating therapy with dual mode of action killing both cancer and immune-suppressive cells.
Under the terms of the collaboration with MSD, the clinical trials will be sponsored by IO Biotech while MSD will provide the trial with Keytruda.
IO Biotech will conduct KEYNOTE-764, an open-label, randomized international Phase 1/2 study, Investigating the safety and efficacy of IO102 in combination with pembrolizumab, with or without chemotherapy, as first-line treatment for patients with metastatic NSCLC.
Biomarker studies will be conducted in parallel to the Phase 1/2 study.
Study results will be shared. IO Biotech will maintain global commercial rights to IO102.
IO Biotech is developing disruptive immune therapies for treatment of cancer. The pipeline of first-in-class immune modulating anti-cancer therapies is developed by a unique technology platform, T-Win, enabling the activation of T cells that are specific for immune-suppressive molecules.
The company's lead compounds are in clinical development and several pipeline compounds are in the pre-clinical phase.