Apexigen which is clinical-stage bio pharmaceutical company and the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium (PBTC) announced a Clinical trial collaboration to assess and evaluate Apexigen’s APX005M, which is an investigational immune activating compound that targets CD40, in pediatric patients with recurrent or refractory brain tumors.
CD40 is an immune co-stimulatory receptor essential to the activation of both innate and adaptive immune responses against cancer. There is an unmet need in pediatric oncology for effective treatments for Central Nervous System (CNS) tumors. Immunotherapy is currently considered a promising area of investigation in clinical oncology and it is expected that novel immune-activating agents such as APX005M will provide additional benefit to complement the currently used immune checkpoint inhibitors.
The PBTC is set to conduct a Phase 1 dose escalation trial of APX005M in children at its participating academic medical centers and children’s hospitals across the United States.
Dunkel, M.D., Chairman of the PBTC Steering Committee, said, “We believe that CD40 activation is a very promising area of immunotherapy for cancer, and we are happy to be collaborating with Apexigen to evaluate APX005M in our pediatric patients.”
APX005M is a novel, humanized investigational monoclonal antibody designed to overcome the systemic immune suppression that typically affects cancer patients through activation of CD40, a co-stimulatory receptor on the antigen presenting cells that is essential for activating both innate and adaptive immunity.