NuCana presents Data on NUC-7738 in combination with Pembrolizumab

NuCana presented final data from the Phase 2 NuTide:701 study at the ESMO Congress on NUC-7738 in combination with pembrolizumab for patients with metastatic melanoma who were refractory to or had relapsed on prior PD-1 inhibitor therapy. In this cohort of 12 patients, most of whom had received at least two prior lines of PD-1 inhibitor therapy, nine achieved disease control, including two patients who achieved Partial Responses. One of these patients, who had received two prior lines of PD-1 inhibitor-based therapy and had progressed on their latest treatment of ipilimumab plus nivolumab within two months, achieved a 55% reduction in tumor volume. Seven of the 12 patients had a progression free survival time of greater than five months, which is highly atypical in this patient population. In addition to achieving these encouraging efficacy signals, the combination of NUC-7738 and pembrolizumab had a favorable safety profile. NUC-7738’s ability to sensitize PD-1 resistant tumors to rechallenge with PD-1 inhibitors is believed to be due to its ability to target multiple aspects of the tumor microenvironment via the disruption of RNA polyadenylation and subsequent changes to gene expression in cancer cells. In support of this hypothesis, data presented from tumor biopsies obtained before and after NUC-7738 based treatment demonstrated increases in genes related to antigen presentation and T-cell activation.