SHANGHAI, Oct. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Shanghai Henlius Biotech, Inc. (2696.HK) announced that the first patient in Europe has been dosed in the international multi-centre phase 3 clinical trial (NCT05353257) of the company’s self-developed anti-PD-1 mAb HANSIZHUANG (serplulimab) in combination with chemotherapy and concurrent radiotherapy in patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer (LS-SCLC) in EU country Latvia. The co-leading principal investigators are Jinming Yu, an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) and the Director of Shandong Cancer Hospital, Ligang Xing, the vice director of Shandong Cancer Hospital, and Ying Cheng, the Director of Jilin Cancer Hospital. Previously, the first patients in China, the U.S., Australia and other countries and regions have been dosed.
According to GLOBOCAN 2020, lung cancer (LC) is the second most commonly diagnosed and the first mortality cancer around the world. There were 2.2 million new LC cases and 1.8 million new deaths in 2020 worldwide, and LC is still the leading cause of cancer deaths[1]. Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) accounts for 15%–20% of the total number of LC, which is featured by high malignancy, strong invasiveness, early metastasis, and rapid disease progression, with extremely poor prognosis. LC is divided into two stages, including limited stage and extensive stage, and 30%–40% patients are in limited stage at the time of diagnosis. The standard treatment regimens for LS-SCLC are surgery, chemotherapy and concurrent radiotherapy. Traditional chemotherapeutic drugs did not exhibit significant progress in patients with LS-SCLC, and most patients tend to develop drug resistance or rapid relapse[2–4]. The advent of immune checkpoint inhibitors has been proven to bring hope to patients with ES-SCLC but has not yet shown benefit in those with LS-SCLC. Recently, HANSIZHUANG was recommended by the 2022 CSCO Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Small Cell Lung Cancer for the treatment of ES-SCLC. The company is continuing to explore immuno-oncology therapy for LS-SCLC, with the goal of delivering more effective treatment for patients.
HANSIZHUANG is the first innovative mAb developed by Henlius. It has been approved by the NMPA for the treatment of MSI-H solid tumours, non-small cell lung cancer (sqNSCLC) and ES-SCLC and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), and has since seen benefits in 40,000 patients in China. Regarding unmet clinical needs as a core, Henlius covers the full range of first-line treatments of LC. Two global multi-centre phase 3 clinical trials regarding sqNSCLC and ES-SCLC have been conducted in China, Turkey, Poland, Georgia, and other countries and regions, with over 30% of the total enrolled subjects being White, providing more diverse cases for clinical research. ASTRUM-005, the international multi-centre, phase 3 study in patients with ES-SCLC, has been published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), one of the top four medical journals in the world, making ASTRUM-005 became the first study published in JAMA on SCLC immunotherapy. Moreover, HANSIZHUANG has been granted orphan-drug designations for the treatment of SCLC by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Commission (EC), respectively. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has validated the application for HANSIZHUANG in combination with chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of ES-SCLC. It is worth mentioning that the first patient has been dosed in a bridging head-to-head trial in the US to comparing HANSIZHUANG to standard of care Atezolizumab (anti-PD-L1 mAb) for the first-line treatment of ES-SCLC, which is expected to propel the product towards US market approval further.
In the future, the company will continue to emphasize unmet clinical needs and actively promote the combination immunotherapy of serplulimab and international commercialization process to benefit more patients around the world.
About NCT05353257
This randomised, double-blind, multi-centre, phase 3 clinical study aims to compare the efficacy and safety of serplulimab versus placebo, in combination with chemotherapy (carboplatin/cisplatin-etoposide) and concurrent radiotherapy in patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer (LS-SCLC). Eligible patients will be randomised at a ratio of 1:1. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the anti-tumour activity of serplulimab plus chemotherapy and concurrent radiotherapy in LS-SCLC patients. The primary endpoint is overall survival (OS). The secondary endpoints include progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR), and duration of response (DOR) assessed by investigators per RECIST 1.1, as well as safety and immunogenicity.
About HANSIZHUANG
HANSIZHUANG (recombinant humanized anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody injection, generic name: serplulimab injection) is the first anti-PD-1 mAb for the first-line treatment of SCLC. Up to date, 4 indications are approved for marketing in China, 1 marketing application is under review in the EU, and more than 10 clinical trials are ongoing across the world.
HANSIZHUANG was launched in March 2022 and has been approved by the NMPA for the treatment of MSI-H solid tumours, squamous non-small cell lung cancer (sqNSCLC), extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC), and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Its marketing applications of the first-line treatment for ES-SCLC are under review by the EMA. Focusing on lung and gastrointestinal cancer, the synergy of HANSIZHUANG with in-house products of the company and innovative therapies are being actively promoted. It has successively obtained clinical trial approvals in China, the U.S., the EU and other countries and regions to initiate more than 10 clinical trials on immuno-oncology combination therapies in a wide variety of indications. As of now, the company has enrolled more than 3,600 subjects in China, the U.S., Turkey, Poland, Georgia and other countries and regions, and the proportion of White is over 30% in two MRCTs, making HANSIZHUANG an anti-PD-1 mAb with one of the largest global clinical data pools. The results of 3 pivotal trials of HANSIZHUANG were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Nature Medicine and the British Journal of Cancer, respectively. Furthermore, HASIZHUANG was recommended by the CSCO Guidelines for Small Cell Lung Cancer, the CSCO Guidelines for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, the CSCO Guidelines for Esophageal Cancer, the CSCO Guidelines for Colorectal Cancer, the CSCO Clinical Practice Guidelines on Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor, the China Guidelines for Radiotherapy of Esophageal Cancer, and other definitive guides, providing valuable references for clinical diagnosis and treatment of tumours. On the other hand, serplulimab was granted orphan drug designations by the U.S. FDA and the EC for the treatment of SCLC, and its bridging head-to-head trial in the United States to compare HANSIZHUANG to standard of care atezolizumab (anti-PD-L1 mAb) for the first-line treatment of ES-SCLC is well under way.
About Henlius
Henlius (2696.HK) is a global biopharmaceutical company with the vision to offer high-quality, affordable, and innovative biologic medicines for patients worldwide with a focus on oncology, autoimmune diseases, and ophthalmic diseases. Up to date, 5 products have been launched in China, 1 has been approved for marketing in overseas markets, 19 indications are approved worldwide, and 2 marketing applications have been accepted for review in the U.S., and the EU, respectively. Since its inception in 2010, Henlius has built an integrated biopharmaceutical platform with core capabilities of high-efficiency and innovation embedded throughout the whole product life cycle including R&D, manufacturing and commercialization. It has established global innovation centers and Shanghai-based manufacturing facilities in line with global Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), including Xuhui Plant certificated by China and the EU GMP and Songjiang First Plant certificated by China GMP.
Henlius has pro-actively built a diversified and high-quality product pipeline covering over 20 innovative monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and has continued to explore immuno-oncology combination therapies with proprietary HANSIZHUANG (anti-PD-1 mAb) as backbone. Apart from the launched products HANLIKANG (rituximab), the first China-developed biosimilar, HANQUYOU (trastuzumab for injection, trade name in Europe: Zercepac®; trade names in Australia: Tuzucip® and Trastucip®), the first China-developed mAb biosimilar approved both in China and Europe, HANDAYUAN (adalimumab) and HANBEITAI (bevacizumab), the innovative product HANSIZHUANG has been approved by the NMPA for the treatment of MSI-H solid tumors, squamous non-small cell lung cancer (sqNSCLC) and extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC), and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), making it the world’s first anti-PD-1 mAb for the first-line treatment of SCLC. What’s more, Henlius has conducted over 30 clinical studies for 16 products, expanding its presence in major markets as well as emerging markets.
【References】
[1] Sung H, Ferlay J, Siegel RL, Laversanne M, Soerjomataram I, Jemal A, Bray F. Global Cancer Statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN Estimates of Incidence and Mortality Worldwide for 36 Cancers in 185 Countries. CA Cancer J Clin. 2021 May;71(3):209-249.
[2] Faivre-Finn C, Snee M, Ashcroft L, Appel W, Barlesi F, Bhatnagar A, Bezjak A, Cardenal F, Fournel P, Harden S, Le Pechoux C, McMenemin R, Mohammed N, O’Brien M, Pantarotto J, Surmont V, Van Meerbeeck JP, Woll PJ, Lorigan P, Blackhall F; CONVERT Study Team. Concurrent once-daily versus twice-daily chemoradiotherapy in patients with limited-stage small-cell lung cancer (CONVERT): an open-label, phase 3, randomised, superiority trial. Lancet Oncol. 2017 Aug;18(8):1116-1125.
[3] Wang Z, Wan J, Liu C, Li L, Dong X, Geng H. Sequential Versus Concurrent Thoracic Radiotherapy in Combination With Cisplatin and Etoposide for N3 Limited-Stage Small-Cell Lung Cancer. Cancer Control. 2020 Jan-Dec;27(1):1073274820956619.
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