Endocyte reports positive interim results from Phase II lung cancer trial

Endocyte, a biotechnology company, has announced positive interim results from an ongoing Phase II clinical study of EC145 in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

The single arm Phase II study is designed to evaluate treatment with EC145 in patients with chemotherapy-resistant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have failed multiple therapy regimens.

At the planned interim analysis, 35% (6/17) of patients achieved clinical benefit (CR+PR+SD), 67% (4/6) of patients had a duration of response of six months or longer, and one patient had significant tumor reduction (>30%). All of these patients had previously failed two to eight prior therapies. Analysis of the safety data indicates that EC145 was generally well tolerated. Based on the positive results from the interim analysis, the two-stage clinical trial will continue on to full enrollment.

Endocyte is also conducting a second Phase II clinical trial with EC145 and EC20, Endocyte’s molecular imaging agent. This randomized trial is known as the Precedent study, and is evaluating treatment with EC145 in patients with ovarian cancer.

Ron Ellis, president and CEO of Endocyte, said: We are extremely pleased that these interim results support the continued development of both EC145 and EC20 while further validating Endocyte’s drug guidance system technology platform. The ability to identify patients who are most likely to respond to a chemotherapy drug and then deliver that drug with maximum precision will represent a major advance in patient care.