The trial rationale and protocol were presented at the “Targeted Anticancer Therapies” congress in Paris Phase I/II of IPH2201 as a single agent will begin in the next few months

MARSEILLE, France I March 9, 2015 I Innate Pharma SA (the “Company” – Euronext Paris: FR0010331421 – IPH), the innate immunity company developing first-in-class therapeutic antibodies for cancer and inflammatory diseases, today announced that investigators from NCIC Clinical Trials Group (“NCIC CTG”) presented the rationale and protocol of the Phase I/II trial of IPH2201, a first-in-class NKG2A checkpoint inhibitor, as a single agent in platinum resistant or sensitive patients with high grade ovarian cancer at the 13th International Congress on Targeted Anticancer Therapies (“TAT”).

NCIC CTG is sponsoring the study (known as IND.221) which will be conducted in Canada and enroll patients with ovarian cancer. In the first part of the study patients will receive IPH2201 at one of three dose levels. Thereafter 20 additional patients will be enrolled, in two groups, including patients whose ovarian cancer is felt to be either platinum sensitive or resistant.

Pierre Dodion, Chief Medical Officer of Innate Pharma, said: “We are very pleased to work with NCIC CTG, a cooperative group of international reputation with extensive experience in treating ovarian cancer. This second trial will begin in the next few months, in line with our plan to activate several Phase II studies with IPH2201 in 2015”.

Lesley Seymour, Director of the Investigational New Drug Program at NCIC CTG said: “NCIC CTG is conducting and planning a number of trials testing agents in the emerging field of immune-based treatments for patients with cancer. Ovarian cancer is an area of unmet need and there is a good scientific rationale for testing immune-based treatments in this disease. NKG2A is a novel target in this exciting area. IPH2201 was shown to have a good safety profile in a Phase I safety trial in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. NCIC CTG is excited to test this first-in-class checkpoint inhibitor in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer”.

The rationale of the trial is based on the frequent (approximately 70 to 80% of the patients) upregulation of HLA-E, the ligand of NKG2A, in ovarian cancer (Gooden, OncoImmunol, 2012). HLA-E overexpression is a poor prognostic factor in gynecologic tumors (Gooden, PNAS, 2011). Furthermore, the presence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes correlates with improved outcome (Zhang, N Engl J Med, 2003; Sato, PNAS, 2005) especially in those cancers with high HLA-E expression (Gooden, PNAS, 2011). Binding of IPH2201 to NGK2A blocks the HLA-E driven inhibition of NK and CD8+ cells. The resulting stimulation of both the innate and acquired immunity could lead to clinical and pharmacological antitumor activity. In a Phase I dose-escalation safety trial, IPH2201 appeared to have a safe and well-tolerated profile. Phase I safety, PK and PD data of IPH2201 were also presented during the congress.

SOURCE: Innate Pharma