Purple Biotech Announces Biomarker Data Support For Oncology Drug

Purple Biotech Ltd has announced new biomarker data for oncology drug CM24, a first-in-class anti-CEACAM1 monoclonal antibody. The findings were presented in a scientific poster titled "Phase 1 Study of CM24 in Combination with Nivolumab in Patients with Advanced Pancreatic Cancer - Survival, Exploratory Biomarkers, and Effect on Neutrophil Extracellular Traps" at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Special Conference: Pancreatic Cancer in Boston.

The poster shows that higher pre-treatment levels of tumour infiltrating lymphocytes that express CEACAM1may associated with longer survival in patients treated with CM24 and nivolumab. In addition, the poster shows high expression of CEACAM1 on neutrophils and NETs , and enhanced levels of serum NETs in PDAC patients, and demonstrates for the first time that CM24 treatment significantly reduced the level of NET marker in patients’ serum, as per pharmabiz.

“These encouraging data, demonstrating increased survival of PDAC patients whose biopsies show higher CEACAM1-positive lymphocytes, are consistent with the CM24 Mechanism of Action (MoA) in suppressing the immune evasion and suggest CEACAM1 expressing lymphocytes as a potential biomarker for CM24 therapy ” said Purple Biotech VP R&D, Dr. Hadas Reuveni. “In addition, the significant reduction in the levels of NETs in patients’ serum following treatment with CM24 suggests a novel MoA that may reduce NET-related complications, especially relevant in PDAC patients and may be used as a potential pharmacodynamic marker for CM24.”