• 14 Dec 2019
• Admin
• News Article

BioLineRx Announces Updated Phase 2a Data From Triple Combination Arm of COMBAT/KEYNOTE-202 Study in Patients With Second-line Metastatic Pancreatic C

TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- BioLineRx Ltd. (NASDAQ: BLRX) (TASE: BLRX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology, announced today updated data from the triple combination arm of the ongoing Phase 2a COMBAT/KEYNOTE-202 study. The data was delivered today in an oral presentation entitled, "A Multi-Center Phase 2a Trial to Assess the Safety and Efficacy of BL-8040 (a CXCR4 inhibitor) in Combination with Pembrolizumab and Chemotherapy in Patients with Metastatic Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma (PDAC)", at the European Society of Medical Oncology Immuno-Oncology Congress (ESMO IO) 2019, which is being held December 11-14 in Geneva, Switzerland. The full presentation is available on the Company's website. Updated Data from the Triple Combo Arm of the COMBAT/KEYNOTE-202 Study As of today's date, 36 out of 40 patients have been enrolled in the study. As of December 5, 2019 (the cutoff date for the presentation data), 30 patients were evaluable for safety and 22 were evaluable for efficacy. All patients enrolled were originally diagnosed with stage IV metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and had progressed following first-line treatment with gemcitabine-based chemotherapy. Best response for the evaluable population of 22 patients showed 7 partial response (PR) and 10 stable disease (SD) patients – resulting in an overall response rate (ORR) of 32% and a disease control rate (DCR) of 77%; this compares favorably to the current chemotherapy standard-of-care treatment in second-line patients with ORR of 17% and DCR of 52%; The combination showed continuity of effect – 5 patients with stable disease became partial responders as treatment continued; Out of the 7 partial responders, 5 are still on treatment, with a current maximum treatment time of 330+ days; and 4 responders showed a reduction in tumor burden of >50%; Median duration of clinical benefit until progression for the 17 patients with disease control (7 PR and 10 SD patients) is 7.8 months; The study is ongoing; progression-free and overall survival data remain on track for mid-2020; The combination was generally well tolerated, with a safety profile consistent with the individual safety profile of each component alone; adverse event (AE) and severe adverse event (SAE) profiles are as expected with chemotherapy-based treatment regimens. "Metastatic pancreatic cancer has a very poor response to chemotherapy, and immunotherapy treatments have failed to show any effect as single agents," said Manuel Hidalgo, MD, PhD, Chief of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology and a Senior Member of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, and principal investigator of this study. "These promising initial results presented today show an overall response rate almost double the current chemotherapy standard-of-care treatment in second-line patients. The results are even stronger when taking into account the extended durability of clinical benefit seen to date in this study (median of 7.8 months), compared to approximately three months of response duration with other treatments for second-line pancreatic cancer. I look forward to the survival data expected in mid-2020." "We are very excited by the positive data accumulating from this triple combination arm of our Phase 2a pancreatic study under our collaboration with Merck," stated Philip Serlin, Chief Executive Officer of BioLineRx. "These data continue to confirm our hypothesis relating to the synergistic effect of cytotoxic chemotherapy, along with the trafficking, tumor microenvironment modulation and T-cell infiltration effects seen in PDAC patients from previous dual combination trials of BL-8040 with checkpoint inhibitors. It is therefore very encouraging to see robust and durable responses to the triple combination treatment, especially as we continue to see a trend of patients receiving treatment for an extended period that move from stable disease to partial response. We hope to see these results translate into an extended survival benefit for these patients, which we expect to announce in mid-2020, and we hope will pave the way for use of immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer and in other cold tumors."