Xencor announced that the first patient has been dosed in XmAb23104-01 (DUET-3), a Phase 1 clinical study to evaluate the safety and tolerability of XmAb23104, a bispecific antibody that simultaneously targets the immune receptors PD-1 and ICOS, for the treatment of patients with advanced solid tumors.
“Despite the success of checkpoint inhibitors, the benefit of therapy is not universal. We designed XmAb23104 to improve anti-tumor responses through a novel mechanism of action that activates and induces proliferation of T cells through simultaneous checkpoint inhibition and co-stimulation,” said Paul Foster, M.D., senior vice president and chief medical officer at Xencor. “Both PD-1 and ICOS are more highly expressed on T cells in the tumor microenvironment than on those in the periphery, and through preferential targeting of cells that express both of these receptors, we hope to be able to drive a stronger anti-tumor response than anti-PD-1 monotherapy with improved tolerability for patients.”
DUET-3 is a Phase 1, multiple-dose, dose-escalation study that will characterize the safety and tolerability, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, immunogenicity and preliminary anti-tumor activity of intravenous administration of XmAb23104 in patients with selected advanced solid tumors.