In This Article:
September has been an exciting time for investors with their fingers on the pulse of cancer drug development. In a nutshell, it looks like the world's top-selling cancer therapy could have a serious competitor.
Sales of Keytruda from Merck reached $25 billion last year thanks to its position as a standard first line of treatment for most patients newly diagnosed with the most common form of lung cancer.
Biotech investors have been buzzing with enthusiasm for Summit Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SMMT) and its lead candidate, ivonescimab. Recently announced results from a clinical trial with frontline lung cancer patients showed ivonescimab reduced their risk of disease worsening by 49% compared to Keytruda monotherapy. That's a big deal for Summit and a pair of companies that are also developing candidates similar to ivonescimab, Instil Bio (NASDAQ: TIL) and BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX).
Why Instil Bio and BioNTech are along for the ride
Keytruda is an antibody that binds to programmed death receptors (PD-1) on the surface of immune cells. This checkpoint is supposed to keep those cells from destroying healthy tissue, but tumor cells often hijack the system. By displaying a programmed death ligand (PD-L1) on their surface, tumor cells often shut down immune systems before they can do their job.
Keytruda is sometimes dosed in combination with a vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitor called Avastin. Instead of delivering two therapies, ivonescimab from Summit Therapeutics, IMM2510 from Instil Bio, and BNT327 from BioNTech are all bispecific antibodies that inhibit VEGF and the PD-1 checkpoint simultaneously.
| Bispecific Antibody | Chinese Owner | Development Partner | PD-1 Target | VEGF Target | Development Stage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ivonescimab | Akeso | Summit Therapeutics | PD-1 | VEGF-A | Approved in China. Phase 3 in U.S. |
| IMM2510 | ImmuneOnco | Instil Bio | PD-L1 | Multiple VEGF ligands | Phase 2 |
| BNT327 | Biotheus | BioNTech | PD-L1 | VEGF-A | Phase 3 |
Table by author. Data sources: Summit Therapeutics, Instil Bio, and BioNTech.
Shares of Instil Bio and BioNTech have risen sharply since Summit shared phase 3 results that show a strong progression-free survival benefit versus Keytruda. While their candidates are similar to Summit's, there are significant differences that could make them more or less effective.
In terms of market value, Instil Bio was circling the drain when Summit began announcing success with its bispecific PD-1/VEGF drug. Since Instil started from such a low point, the clinical-stage biotech's stock price was able to shoot more than 500% higher in response to Summit's news.