ImmunityBio and BeiGene ink research collaboration

California-based ImmunityBio (Nasdaq: IBRX) has entered into a collaboration and supply agreement with Sino-American biotech BeiGene (Nasdaq: BGNE; be changed to BeOne Medicines) combining the latter’s lead product Tevimbra (tislelizumab), a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor (CPI), and ImmunityBio's Anktiva (nogapendekin alfa inbakicept-pmln).

The Phase III ResQ201A-NSCLC study aims to confirm the efficacy and safety of combination Anktiva plus CPI therapy previously demonstrated in the trial QUILT 3.055 and provide evidence of the potential for these two immunotherapeutic agents to improve overall survival in patients with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have acquired resistance to immune CPI therapy.

ImmunityBio explained that the Phase III trial design is based on the synergistic potential already demonstrated in the QUILT 3.055 study that a CPI and Anktiva, a interleukin (IL)-15 superagonist, prolongs overall survival (OS) in the study population compared to historical controls in this setting. In Phase I and II studies, Anktiva has demonstrated the capability of rescuing T cells, and thus CPI efficacy, through the molecule’s unique mechanism of action.