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 Two doses of belantamab mafodotin helped subdue the disease in
adults who had received three prior treatments for multiple myeloma,
a cancer of the white blood cells, GSK said on Friday. The company
intends to seek market approval and submit data from the trial to
regulatory bodies this year.
GSK sold its approved oncology drugs to Novartis in 2014, but has
staged a comeback in cancer treatment with a deal to buy U.S. firm
Tesaro for $5.1 billion last year and an agreement in February to
pay up to 3.7 billion euros ($4.09 billion) to Germany's Merck KGaA
for the rights to a next-generation immunotherapy.
"We are on track to file belantamab mafodotin later this year and
continue to investigate how it could help even more patients with
this disease," GSK's Chief Scientific Officer Hal Barron said.
The drug targets a protein linked to multiple myeloma known as BCMA.
"This is yet another positive signal that GSK's R&D engine is being
turned around and should be well received by the market," said
Liberum analyst Graham Doyle.
In another recent win in oncology, GSK's Zejula - formerly Tesaro's
lead compound - was shown to slow progression of ovarian cancer.
GSK shares were up 1% at 0923 GMT versus a 0.4% gain in the STOXX
Europe 600 Health Care index.
Details of the belantamab mafodotin trial, which tracked how
patients fared over time and did not feature a comparison group
without the novel treatment, would be presented at an as yet
undisclosed medical conference, the company added.
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The interim result gives further credence to a class of molecules
known as antibody drug conjugates (ADC) that belantamab mafodotin
belongs to.
The concept further builds on the established method of using
antibodies that block or bind to foreign substances in the body.
ADC, in turn, are antibodies with a cell toxin as a molecular
add-on.
That allows chemotherapeutic agents, which are harmful to all human
cells, to be brought to cancer cells at much higher doses than in
conventional chemotherapy.
AstraZeneca agreed in March agreed to pay up to $6.9 billion to work
with Daiichi Sankyo on an ADC against breast cancer, in a challenge
to another ADC called Kadcyla, made by Roche.
Multiple myeloma is the second most common form of blood cancer.
While it can be treated, there is no available cure, GSK said.
The condition is expected to claim the lives of 13,000 people in the
U.S. in 2019, according to the American Cancer Society.
The BCMA protein that is characteristic of multiple myeloma is also
being used as a target in cell therapies developed by Johnson &
Johnson, bluebird bio Inc, Celgene Corp.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; editing by Patrick
Graham and Mike Harrison)
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