Forty Seven to Collaborate With Roche for CD47 Cancer I-O Trials
A clinical-stage company, Forty Seven, is currently focused on developing the next generation of transformational immuno-oncology treatments to enable patient’s immune systems to defeat their cancer.
The biotech has now announced an agreement with Genentech Inc., a member of the Roche Group., for Genentech to sponsor two clinical trials combining Forty Seven’s CD47 antibody, Hu5F9-G4, with Genentech’s PD-L1 antibody, atezolizumab, in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and with urothelial (bladder) cancer.
PD-L1 and CD47 are immunosuppressant molecules over-expressed on cancer cells that send inhibitory signals to T cells and macrophages, respectively. Binding of avelumab to PD-L1 takes the brakes off T cells and, in a similar way, binding of Hu5F9-G4 to CD47 takes the brakes off macrophages.
Avelumab, which is co-developed with Pfizer, was approved in Europe and the USA under the brand name Bavencio in metastatic merkel cell carcinoma last year, as well as in bladder cancer in the USA.
Craig Gibbs, chief business officer at Forty Seven, said: “There is a large unmet medical need for new therapies for AML and bladder cancer patients, particularly those who are elderly or have compromised organ function and are not
able to withstand the side-effects of chemotherapy. We are excited to evaluate these novel combinations in collaboration with a global leader in oncology.”
