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Zymeworks and ALX Oncology Announce Clinical Collaboration Evaluating Zanidatamab with the CD47 Blocker ALX148 in Patients with Advanced HER2‑Expressing Breast Cancer
VANCOUVER, British Columbia & BURLINGAME, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Zymeworks Inc. (NYSE: ZYME), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing
About this update from Zymeworks Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":" VANCOUVER, British Columbia & BURLINGAME, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nZymeworks Inc. (NYSE: ZYME), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing multifunctional biotherapeutics, and ALX Oncology Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ALXO), a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company developing therapies that block the CD47 checkpoint pathway, today announced they have entered into a clinical collaboration to evaluate the combination of Zymeworks’ zanidatamab (formerly ZW25), a HER2-targeted bispecific antibody, and ALX148, a next-generation CD47 blocker, for the treatment of patients with advanced HER2-expressing breast cancer and other solid tumors.\nThis press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201116005959/en/\nUnder the terms of the agreement, Zymeworks will conduct an open label, multi-center Phase 1b study to assess the safety and efficacy of the combination of zanidatamab and ALX148 in a two-part study. The first part of the trial will evaluate the safety of the combination treatment. The second part of the trial will evaluate the safety, tolerability and anti-tumor activity of the combination in separate cohorts of subjects with HER2-positive breast cancer, HER2-low breast cancer, and non-breast HER2-expressing solid tumors.\n\n“In addition to broad anti-tumor activity, zanidatamab’s safety profile supports combination approaches with other therapeutics,” said Diana Hausman, M.D., Chief Medical Officer at Zymeworks. “Our collaboration with ALX Oncology and their CD47 blocker, ALX148, has the potential to further expand the opportunity for zanidatamab to provide benefit to a broader population of patients, including those with advanced HER2‑expressing breast cancer.”\n\nZanidatamab is designed to have multiple mechanisms of action, including immune clearance of HER2-expressing tumor cells by macrophages through antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP). CD47 is a “don’t eat me” signal that acts as a checkpoint inhibitor to macrophages. Cancer cells that express CD47 are resistant to immune clearance even when targeted with therapeutic antibodies. Treatment with zanidatamab plus ALX148 has the potential to increase the immune clearance of HER2-expressing cancer cells by combining a biparatopic antibody capable of binding at higher density than monospecific antibodi...