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Tempest Announces First Patient Dosed with TPST-1495 in Combination with Pembrolizumab
Combination based on both strong mechanistic rationale and preclinical data SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tempest Therapeutics, Inc.
About this update from Tempest Therapeutics, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"Combination based on both strong mechanistic rationale and preclinical data SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tempest Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: TPST), a clinical-stage oncology company developing potentially first-in-class therapeutics that combine both tumor-targeted and immune-mediated mechanisms, today announced the first patient has been dosed with TPST-1495 in combination with pembrolizumab in the Phase 1a/1b open-label, dose and schedule optimization study of TPST-1495 in patients with solid tumors. “We’re very pleased to announce the start of patient dosing with TPST-1495 in combination with pembrolizumab,” said Sam Whiting, MD, Ph.D., chief medical officer of Tempest. “TPST-1495 is designed to inhibit key components of the Prostaglandin E2, or PGE2, pathway, which is both a driver of tumor cell proliferation and an important suppressor of anti-tumor immune function. In addition, recent data show that PGE2 is involved in enabling tumors to escape from immune checkpoint inhibitors such as pembrolizumab, a process known as adaptive immune resistance. Based on this mechanistic rationale and our preclinical data, we are excited about the potential of this combination to be superior to either approach alone and bring benefit to patients.” The first-in-human Phase 1a/1b, multicenter, open-label, dose and schedule optimization study is being conducted at academic and Phase 1 sites in the U.S. and evaluates TPST-1495 as a single agent and in combination with pembrolizumab to determine its maximum tolerated dose and/or recommended Phase 2 dose, safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and preliminary anti-tumor activity in subjects with advanced solid tumors. The preliminary dose-finding stage of the study allows patients with any solid tumor histology, while the study expansion stages are designed both to focus upon patients with prostaglandin-driven cancers, including colorectal cancer, endometrial cancer, squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, as well as biomarker-selected patients with tumor-driver mutations in the PIK3CA gene, which are known to enhance the level of prostaglandin production in tumor cells. About TPST-1495 TPST-1495 is an orally available small molecule designed to block the tumor-promoting EP2 and EP4 receptors in the prostaglandin (PGE2) pathway, while sparing th...