Fortress is advancing several late-stage clinical assets with two NDA submissions anticipated in second half of 2023
PDUFA goal date of January 3, 2024 set by FDA for cosibelimab to treat metastatic or locally advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma
MIAMI, May 15, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fortress Biotech, Inc. (Nasdaq: FBIO) (“Fortress”), an innovative biopharmaceutical company focused on efficiently acquiring, developing and commercializing or monetizing promising therapeutic products and product candidates, today announced financial results and recent corporate highlights for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023.
Lindsay A. Rosenwald, M.D., Fortress’ Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Fortress and our subsidiaries and partner companies continued advancing our promising clinical-stage drug candidates for a wide range of diseases during the first quarter of 2023. We expect data updates from multiple clinical programs in the coming months, including Phase 3 topline results for DFD-29 to treat papulopustular rosacea (“PPR”) in June of 2023. We also expect to report dose escalation and response data for MB-106, a CD20-targeted, autologous CAR T cell therapy to treat relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas (“B-NHL”) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (“CLL”), throughout the year. Dotinurad for the treatment of gout and Triplex for the treatment of cytomegalovirus continue to advance in clinical trials and we anticipate a dotinurad Phase 1 topline data readout in U.S. healthy volunteers in the second quarter of this year.”
Dr. Rosenwald continued, “On the regulatory front, we expect the rolling New Drug Application (“NDA”) submission for CUTX-101 to treat Menkes disease to be complete by the end of 2023. We also anticipate filing an NDA for DFD-29 in the second half of 2023 and look forward to the January 3, 2024, Prescription Drug User Fee Act (“PDUFA”) goal date for cosibelimab to treat patients with metastatic or locally advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (“cSCC”). Overall, it is an exciting time for Fortress as we advance potential treatments for patients in need while focusing on increasing shareholder value.”
Recent Corporate Highlights1:
Cosibelimab (Anti PD-L1 antibody)
- Our partner company, Checkpoint Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: CKPT) (“Checkpoint”), submitted a Biologics License Application (“BLA”) to the FDA for cosibelimab, its investigational anti-PD-L1 antibody, as a treatment for patients with metastatic or locally advanced cSCC who are not candidates for curative surgery or radiation, in January 2023. In March 2023, the FDA accepted the BLA filing for cosibelimab and set a PDUFA goal date of January 3, 2024. In its BLA filing acceptance letter, the FDA indicated that no potential filing review issues have been identified, and that an advisory committee meeting to discuss the application is not currently planned. According to U.S. prescription claims data, in 2021, approximately 11,000 cSCC patients were treated with systemic therapies. As PD-1 inhibitors comprised less than half of patient prescriptions, cSCC remains a disease with a need for more effective and tolerable treatment options, particularly for the significant number of cSCC patients with immunosuppressive conditions or autoimmune diseases. With its unique mechanism of action and compelling safety profile, we believe cosibelimab, if approved, would be uniquely positioned to provide an important new treatment option for cSCC patients that are currently underserved by available therapies.
- Cosibelimab was sourced by Fortress and is currently in development at Checkpoint.
Dotinurad (Urate Transporter (URAT1) Inhibitor)
- Dotinurad is in development for the treatment of gout. We anticipate topline data from the Phase 1 trial to evaluate dotinurad in healthy volunteers in the United States in the second quarter of 2023 and expect to begin pivotal clinical trials in early 2024.
- Dotinurad (URECE® tablet) was approved in Japan in 2020 as a once-daily oral therapy for gout and hyperuricemia. Dotinurad was efficacious and well-tolerated in more than 500 Japanese patients treated for up to 58 weeks in Phase 3 clinical trials. The clinical program supporting approval included over 1,000 patients.
- Dotinurad was sourced by Fortress and is currently in development at Urica.
MB-106 (CD20-targeted CAR T Cell Therapy)
- Mustang Bio, Inc.’s (Nasdaq: MBIO) (“Mustang Bio”) lead clinical candidate is MB-106, a CD20-targeted, autologous CAR T cell therapy to treat relapsed or refractory B-NHL and CLL. MB-106 data to date include an overall response rate of 96% and complete response rate of 75% in a wide range of hematologic malignancies, including Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia (“WM”), in a clinical trial conducted by Mustang Bio’s collaborators at Fred Hutch. In parallel, Mustang Bio’s multicenter, open-label, non-randomized Phase 1/2 clinical trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of MB-106 continues to accrue, and Mustang Bio anticipates escalation to the final dose level in the Phase 1 indolent lymphoma arm in the third quarter of this year. The FDA granted Orphan Drug Designation to MB-106 for the treatment of WM, and Mustang Bio has treated the first WM patient in the indolent lymphoma arm of the trial. Results from this arm are expected to support an accelerated Phase 2 registration strategy for WM, with the first pivotal Phase 2 WM patient potentially to be treated in the first quarter of 2024. In the second quarter of this year, Mustang Bio plans to report safety and efficacy data from the indolent lymphoma arm.
- Phase 1/2 data from the Fred Hutch clinical trial on MB-106, a CD20-targeted, autologous CAR T cell therapy for patients with relapsed or refractory B-NHL and CLL, will be presented at the European Hematology Association Hybrid Congress (“EHA2023”) taking place June 8-11, 2023, in Frankfurt, Germany and at the International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma (“ICML”) taking place June 13-17, 2023, in Lugano, Switzerland. Data from the WM cohort were selected for poster presentation at EHA2023 and outpatient treatment of follicular lymphoma was selected for oral presentation at ICML.
- MB-106 was sourced by Fortress and is currently in development at Mustang Bio.
CUTX-101 (Copper Histidinate for Menkes disease)
- Our subsidiary, Cyprium Therapeutics, Inc. (“Cyprium”) has completed two pivotal studies in patients with Menkes disease treated with CUTX-101, copper histidinate (CuHis). In a pre-specified analysis of the studies, a 79% reduction in the risk of death was observed in patients treated within four weeks of birth, compared with a historical control cohort of untreated patients, and median overall survival (OS) was 177.1 months for CUTX-101 compared to 16.1 months for historical control, with a hazard ratio (HR) of (95% CI) = 0.208 (0.094, 0.463) p