Merck, Incyte Expand Immunotherapy Pact

Merck & Co. Inc. and Incyte Corporation have expanded the companies' ongoing clinical collaboration to include a Phase III study evaluating the combination of epacadostat, Incyte's investigational selective IDO1 inhibitor, with Keytruda (pembrolizumab), Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy, as first-line treatment for patients with advanced or metastatic melanoma. The Phase III study, which is expected to begin in the first half of 2016, will be co-funded by Incyte and Merck.

Under the agreement, Incyte and Merck have also agreed, for a period of two years, not to initiate new pivotal studies of an IDO1 inhibitor in combination with a PD-1/PD-L1 antagonist as first-line therapy in advanced or metastatic melanoma with any third party. During this time, the companies will each offer the other the opportunity to collaborate on any new study involving an IDO1 inhibitor in combination with a PD-1/PD-L1 antagonist for types of melanoma and lines of therapy outside of the current collaboration agreement. The agreement is between Incyte and certain subsidiaries and Merck through its subsidiaries.

Epacadostat and Keytruda are part of a class of cancer treatments known as immunotherapies that are designed to enhance the body's own defenses in fighting cancer; the two therapies target distinct regulatory components of the immune system. IDO1 is an immunosuppressive enzyme that has been shown to induce regulatory T cell generation and activation, and allow tumors to escape immune surveillance. Keytruda is a humanized monoclonal antibody that blocks the interaction between PD-1 and its ligands, PD-L1 and PD-L2. Preclinical evidence suggests that the combination of these two agents may lead to an enhanced anti-tumor immune response compared with either agent alone.

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) is an immunosuppressive enzyme that has been shown to induce regulatory T cell generation and activation, and allow tumors to escape immune surveillance. Epacadostat is an orally bioavailable small-molecule inhibitor of IDO1 that has nanomolar potency in both biochemical and cellular assays and has demonstrated potent activity in enhancing T lymphocyte, dendritic cell, and natural killer cell responses in vitro, with a high degree of selectivity. Epacadostat has shown proof-of-concept clinical data in patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma in combination with the CTLA-4 inhibitor ipilimumab, and is currently in four proof-of-concept clinical trials with PD-1 and PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitors in a variety of cancer histologies.

Keytruda is a humanized monoclonal antibody that blocks the interaction between PD-1 and its ligands, PD-L1 and PD-L2. By binding to the PD-1 receptor and blocking the interaction with the receptor ligands, Keytruda releases the PD-1 pathway-mediated inhibition of the immune response, including the anti-tumor immune response. Keytruda is indicated for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma and disease progression following ipilimumab and, if BRAF V600 mutation positive, a BRAF inhibitor.

Source: Merck & Co. Inc.

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