The narrative of TIGIT-targeting immunotherapy development, beset by negative news in recent months, has found a positive plotline again, thanks to what Roche Holding AG referred to as “an inadvertent disclosure” of a second interim analysis from the phase III Skyscraper-01 study testing anti-TIGIT candidate tiragolumab with anti-PD-L1 antibody Tecentriq (atezolizumab) in non-small-cell lung cancer.
From Roche Holding AG to Novartis AG, bad news abounds for anti-TIGIT immunotherapies. In an SEC filing on July 11, Chinese oncology R&D firm Beigene Ltd. and Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis announced an end to their $1 billion deal to develop the former’s TIGIT immunotherapy ociperlimab, with the checkpoint inhibitor going back to Beigene.
From Roche Holding AG to Novartis AG, bad news abounds for anti-TIGIT immunotherapies. In an SEC filing on July 11, Chinese oncology R&D firm Beigene Ltd. and Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis announced an end to their $1 billion deal to develop the former’s TIGIT immunotherapy ociperlimab, with the checkpoint inhibitor going back to Beigene.
B cells that expressed a constellation of checkpoint inhibitors could be spurred into antitumor activity by deleting or blocking the checkpoint molecule T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain 1 (TIM-1). The findings, which were published online in Nature on June 21, 2023, suggest ways to bring B cells into the antitumor fight. More broadly, Lloyd Bod told BioWorld, his laboratory aims to “break the dogma that B cells only produce antibodies.”
While new data from Arcus Biosciences Inc. and Gilead Sciences Inc. didn't do much to calm an unsteady development corridor, researcher, developers and analysts still hold out hope for the TIGIT pathway. The Arcus-Gilead randomized phase II study combining anti-TIGIT domvanalimab and anti-PD1 antibodies for treating first-line, metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer produced positive results, including improvements in median progression-free survival (PFS) and six-month landmark PFS rates vs. monotherapy. But a hefty dent in Arcus' shares provide a reminder of TIGIT’s fragility as a field, and a reminder of the phase III failure in May for Roche Holding AG unit Genentech Inc.'s anti-TIGIT immunotherapy tiragolumab, which dragged down the share value of several other class entrants. Arcus stock (NASDAQ:RCUS) dipped deeply on Dec. 20 on the new data’s release, but rallied on Dec. 21 by closing 7.5% upward at $22.15 each.
A phase III failure for Roche Holding AG unit Genentech Inc.'s anti-TIGIT immunotherapy tiragolumab dragged down the share value of several other class entrants.
A phase III failure for Roche Holding AG unit Genentech Inc.'s anti-TIGIT immunotherapy tiragolumab dragged down the share value of several other class entrants.
Roche Holding AG’s attempt to find a next-generation cancer immunotherapy has suffered a setback after the first phase III readout for an anti-TIGIT drug, tiragolumab, turned out negative. With big pharma investing heavily in TIGIT (T-cell immunoreceptor with immunoglobulin and ITIM domains), results from the company’s Skyscraper-02 trial were closely watched.
Barely two weeks into the year, Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co. Ltd. has already locked down an out-licensing deal and an in-licensing agreement. In a follow-up to their $1.1 billion deal a year ago, Coherus Biosciences Inc. has moved ahead with the right to exercise its option to license Junshi’s JS-006, a recombinant humanized IgG4k monoclonal antibody targeting T cell immunoglobulin and ITIM domain protein (TIGIT). Separately, Junshi has in-licensed antibody “modules,” or Dotbodies, from Dotbio Pte. Ltd. for use in oncology and the development of several multispecific antibodies.
Novartis AG has forged even stronger links with Beigene Ltd., taking an option on the latter’s late-stage TIGIT inhibitor cancer immunotherapy ociperlimab in a deal worth up to $1 billion.