BioCentury
ARTICLE | Clinical News

Latest immuno-oncology monotherapy data continue to cast doubt on combo strategies

October 22, 2018 1:10 AM UTC

New data for next generation immuno-oncology agents add to the debate of whether and how agents that show no efficacy as monotherapies in Phase I trials should be advanced to later stage combination trials. This weekend, Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) and Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY) each presented data at the European Society for Medical Oncology meeting in Munich showing that MK-1454 and pegilodecakin (AM0010) led to no responses as monotherapies across several indications, despite showing some efficacy in combination with chemotherapy or checkpoint inhibitors.

Merck reported that MK-1454 as monotherapy led to no responses in 20 evaluable patients in a Phase I trial to treat advanced solid tumors or lymphomas. The disease control rate in the monotherapy arm for the transmembrane protein 173 (STING; TMEM173) agonist was 20%...