CT-322 is a proprietary Adnectin protein therapeutic that specifically binds to vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR-2), which regulates the primary tumor angiogenesis pathway. As a result, CT-322 blocks all known ligands for VEGFR-2.
Adnexus said the Adnectin product class represents the next wave of vital medicines for cancer. It believes these results put it ahead of other medicines such as siRNA, aptamers, nanobodies and other new antibody-based approaches.
The phase I study was designed to assess the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of CT-322 in cancer patients, as well as to evaluate preliminary evidence of biological and antitumor activity.
CT-322 demonstrated promising evidence of biological activity in patients within four hours of drug administration as evidenced by elevated plasma levels of biomarkers of VEGFR-2 pathway, and these biomarkers remained elevated significantly above baseline throughout the multi-dose treatment period. In addition, CT-322 administration resulted in predictable, consistent pharmacokinetics that could support every-other-week dosing in humans.
“CT-322 has the potential to become an important cancer therapeutic due to its unique mechanism of action. More broadly, the emergence of a new category of drugs with such broad potential is rare and is very exciting for the clinical community,” commented Anthony Tolcher of the Institute for Drug Development Cancer Therapy and Research Center.