NETRIS Pharma Doses First Patient in Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) Clinical Study with NP137
Liver-NET1 study will evaluate safety and efficacy of anti-netrin-1 antibody NP137 in combination with Atezo-bev for first line patients with advanced HCC
January 26th, 2023 LYON, France —
NETRIS Pharma, a clinical-stage private biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of drugs based on dependence receptor biology, today announced dosing of the first patients in a multicenter, prospective, single arm, proof-of-concept trial of the anti-netrin-1 antibody, NP137, in combination with atezolizumab-bevacizumab (Atezo-bev) in first line patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Called Liver-NET1 (NCT05546879), the study will enroll 43 to 52 patients and consists of two parts: a safety lead-in phase, with 3-12 patients, and an expansion phase of 40 patients, where efficacy endpoints, including best overall objective response rate (ORR), will be measured. Netrin-1 is a protein ligand found to be over-expressed in many cancers.
“Liver-NET1 is our third clinical trial and the second we have launched within the last 2 months, illustrating the acceleration of our clinical development plan and the interest of combining NP137 with standard of care in multiple oncology indications,” said Patrick Mehlen, CEO of NETRIS Pharma. “The company is already including patients in GYNET and IMMUNONET trials to evaluate the potential incremental benefit of combining NP137 with immunotherapies and chemotherapies, and we believe there could also be great promise in HCC .”
Liver-NET1 is an investigator initiated trial led Dr. Gael Roth, a GI oncologist expert in primary liver cancers, from the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Grenoble Alpes (CHUGA). Ten other clinical centers in France will participate in the study.
“Despite the demonstrated benefits of Atezo-bev as new standard of care, only 30% of patients respond to this treatment. The unique mode of action of NP137, impacting on the tumoral plasticity, is generating significant interest from clinicians to potentially increase patient response and reduce resistance in HCC treatment,” said Dr. Roth. “We look forward to evaluate this combination in advanced HCC in a first line setting, in which therapeutic advances are seriously needed to better treat patients.”
About NETRIS Pharma
NETRIS Pharma, a clinical-stage company designs and develops anti-cancer therapeutic molecules, particularly monoclonal antibodies, to block the interaction between dependence receptors and their ligands. NETRIS Pharma, based in Lyon, is the world most advanced biopharmaceutical company targeting netrin-1.
Further information can be found at: https://www.netrispharma.com.
About NP137
NP137 is a humanized monoclonal antibody of isotype IgG1 directed against netrin-1. Most types of tumors produce an abnormal amount of dependence receptors’ ligands, which prevents cells from apoptosis. Netrin-1 is overexpressed in a large percentage of human cancers including HCC cancer in which it is overexpressed in 60% of cases. Expression of netrin-1 often correlates with disease severity and no therapy has ever been tested against this new pathway. Preclinical studies show NP137 to have an anti-cancer effect as a monotherapy as well as synergistic effects in combination with chemotherapy or immune checkpoint inhibitors. Further to the confirmation of the excellent safety profile in human, NETRIS Pharma is currently actively recruiting in two other clinical trials: GYNET trial (NCT04652076) and IMMUNONET trial (NCT05605496). Liver-NET1 is disclosed on clinicaltrials.gov under – NCT NCT05546879.
About Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Grenoble Alpes (CHUGA)
Grenoble Alpes University Hospital (CHUGA) is one of the best French University Hospitals, and ranks 11th in terms of medical activity. Its close relationship with Grenoble Alpes University Research laboratories enables the CHUGA to guarantee access to the latest medical innovations and clinical research improvement. CHUGA also ranks 12th in France for its research activity while Grenoble Alpes University belongs to the top 7 French universities, according to global rankings. CHUGA counts 1800 beds and accommodations a with 11500 professionals providing every medical and surgical specialties at high level of excellence.
Further information can be found at www.chu-grenoble.fr.
Contacts:
NETRIS Pharma
Patrick MEHLEN, CEO, patrickmehlen@netrispharma.com
Christophe GUICHARD, CFO and IR, christopheguichard@netrispharma.com
Mike Sinclair, Halsin Partners (for Netris Pharma), msinclair@halsin.com
CHUGA
CoordinationLiverNET@chu-grenoble.fr
