US-based AVEO Oncology, an LG Chem (KRX:051910) company, announced on Wednesday that the first patient has been successfully dosed in a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial evaluating ficlatuzumab in combination with azacitidine and venetoclax in patients aged 60 years or older with untreated acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

The trial is being conducted through a Master Clinical Trial Collaboration Agreement with Blood Cancer United, formerly the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Blood Cancer United is sponsoring the clinical trial as a sub-study in its Beat AML Master Clinical Trial, the first collaborative precision medicine clinical trial in a blood cancer, which tests multiple therapies in multiple study arms simultaneously.

The Phase 1b/2 clinical trial is designed to assess the safety, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and preliminary efficacy of the combination as a potential treatment for AML.

Ficlatuzumab is AVEO's investigational humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody aimed at binding to the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) ligand and preventing it from signaling via the c-Met receptor. Early phase clinical trials evaluating ficlatuzumab in combination with cytarabine in AML reported a favorable safety profile with promising clinical activity, supporting ficlatuzumab for further study in AML patients, particularly in those who are considered unfit for standard intensive first-line therapy.