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Alkermes Announces Clinical Trial Collaboration and Supply Agreement With MSD to Evaluate Nemvaleukin Alfa in Combination With KEYTRUDA® in Patients With Platinum-Resistant Ovarian Cancer
DUBLIN, April 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Alkermes plc (Nasdaq: ALKS) today announced that it has entered into a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement
About this update from Alkermes Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"DUBLIN, April 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Alkermes plc (Nasdaq: ALKS) today announced that it has entered into a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with MSD (a tradename of Merck & Co., Inc. Kenilworth, NJ, USA) for a planned phase 3 study to evaluate nemvaleukin alfa (\"nemvaleukin\", formerly referred to as ALKS 4230), Alkermes' novel investigational engineered interleukin-2 (IL-2) variant immunotherapy, in combination with MSD's KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab), in comparison to investigator choice chemotherapy in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. Under the terms of the agreement, Alkermes is responsible for conducting the phase 3 study, which is planned to initiate in the second half of 2021. \n\"We are pleased to collaborate with MSD to evaluate nemvaleukin in combination with KEYTRUDA in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, a patient population for which there are limited treatment options available and overall survival remains low. Importantly, there are no anti-PD-1 treatments currently approved for this tumor type,\" said Jessicca Rege, Ph.D., Vice President, Head of Oncology at Alkermes. \"Nemvaleukin in combination with KEYTRUDA has demonstrated antitumor activity in heavily pre-treated patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer in the ongoing ARTISTRY-1 study, with durable and deepening responses observed. We look forward to initiating this phase 3 study to further evaluate the potential clinical utility of this combination in this tumor type and advancing our interactions with regulatory authorities related to potential registration strategies for the combination in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.\" \nAbout nemvaleukin alfa Nemvaleukin is an investigational, novel, engineered fusion protein comprised of modified interleukin-2 (IL-2) and the high affinity IL-2 alpha receptor chain, designed to selectively expand tumor-killing immune cells while avoiding the activation of immunosuppressive cells by preferentially binding to the intermediate-affinity IL-2 receptor complex. The selectivity of nemvaleukin is designed to leverage the proven antitumor effects of existing IL-2 therapy while mitigating certain limitations.\nAbout the ARTISTRY Clinical Development Program ARTISTRY is an Alkermes-sponsored clinical development program evaluating nemvaleukin in patients with advanced solid...