Faron Pharmaceuticals said it was encouraged by survival rates among advanced-stage cancer patients who responded to treatment from its immunotherapy drug bexmarilimab.
In the latest data from the MATINS trial of 90 advanced cancer patients, Faron said of the 17 who responded to receiving bexmarilimab eleven (or 65%) had survived for a year.
The remaining 73 patients did not respond to the drug and of those eight (11%) survived for a year.
Faron added that the strongest survival benefit was seen in refractory skin cancer and bile duct cancer.
Here, the twelve-month survival among the patients who benefited from bexmarilimab treatment was 100%, while all of those who did not see any benefit died.
"The updated survival data from the MATINS trial are significant, especially when you consider the patient population in this trial," said Daruka Mahadevan, Chief, Division of Hematology/Medical Oncology at the Mays Cancer Center in Texas.
"These are heavily pre-treated patients with significantly advanced disease.
“It's highly encouraging that an anti-tumour immune response was activated and that two-thirds of the patients who benefited from treatment had a durable response lasting at least 12-months."
Marie-Louise Fjällskog, Faron’s chief medical officer, added: “One-year survival data is an important milestone in any cancer trial, and we are highly encouraged by the meaningful extension of life experienced by patients who benefited from bexmarilimab monotherapy."
"These data, along with the biomarker data we previously reported, are helping us design our upcoming registrational trials and further support our belief that bexmarilimab monotherapy can increase survival in patients with a variety of late-stage solid tumours."
Faron added it will complete a detailed evaluation of the MATINS data and share the results at an upcoming medical conference.