Sept. 17 ESMO Quick Takes: EQRx and CStone report more positive PD-1 data

Meeting the primary endpoint for sugemalimab in a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) population not yet served by PD-1 inhibitors, EQRx Inc. and partner CStone Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. (HKEX:2616) have hit another milestone on their path toward offering therapies at radically lower costs. At the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress, sugemalimab met its primary progression-free survival endpoint as consolidation therapy for locally advanced, unresectable Stage III NSCLC in the Phase III GEMSTONE-301 study, achieving a median PFS of 9 months versus 5.8 months for placebo. This week, the company also announced positive Phase III data in Stage IV NSCLC at the World Conference on Lung Cancer meeting. Those data showed efficacy on par with Keytruda pembrolizumab.

The latest data for mesothelin-targeted gavo-cel from TCR2 Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:TCRR) has investors concerned that the next-generation TCR cell therapy may not improve on the safety of other T cell therapies as hoped. All three mesothelioma patients treated at the highest dose experienced severe cytokine release syndrome and one had grade 5 bronchoalveolar hemorrhage, leading to its assignment as the maximum tolerated dose. A patient in the lowest dose cohort also experienced Grade 3 pneumonitis. Despite safety concerns, four of 16 patients with mesothelin-expressing solid tumors achieved a partial response for an overall response rate (ORR) of 25% and a disease control rate of 81%. TCR’s TRuC T platform fuses a TCR’s tumor antigen recognition domain rather than the full TCR to a T cell’s surface to avoid HLA restriction. TCR2 was off 36% to $9.99 on Friday...