NEW YORK – NextPoint Therapeutics on Wednesday began treating patients with solid tumors expressing HHLA2/B7-H7 in a Phase I trial of its HHLA2-targeted treatment NPX887.
Researchers are enrolling patients in the trial with non-small cell lung cancer, renal cell carcinoma, colorectal carcinoma, and other solid tumor types known to express HHLA2/B7-H7, an immune checkpoint and tumor antigen that is highly expressed in many cancers independently of PD-L1.
NextPoint will evaluate 144 patients in the Phase Ia/Ib trial and test different dose levels and evaluate the preliminary activity of NPX887. In the Phase Ib portion, researchers will evaluate the drug in disease-specific cohorts and compare two dose levels determined during the dose-escalation portion of the trial. Patients must have confirmed HHLA-2/B7-H7 expression in their tumors in the second portion of the trial.
"The launch of NPX887, our second clinical program targeting the HHLA2/B7-H7 axis, marks an important step in broadening our therapeutic targeting of this novel pathway to reactivate the immune system to fight cancer," NextPoint Chief Medical Officer Leena Gandhi said in a statement. "Together with NPX267, our first clinical program targeting the KIR3DL3 receptor for HHLA2, we are well positioned to interrogate how best to exploit this pathway to effectively treat patients whose tumors express HHLA2 as an independent checkpoint of tumor-immune response from PD-L1."
NextPoint, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, began testing another HHLA2-targeted treatment, NPX267, in a Phase I trial last year. Both NPX267 and NPX887 are designed to prevent immune escape in solid tumors by targeting KIR3DL3, a receptor expressed on effector T cells and natural killer cells in the tumor microenvironment and the inhibitory receptor for the HHLA2 pathway.
In a statement, Gandhi added that the firm aims to leverage HHLA2 as a biomarker to select patients most likely to benefit from the drugs and that both candidates have the potential for monotherapy benefit.
Earlier this month, NextPoint closed a Series B funding extension, raising $42.5 million on top of the $80 million it raised last year. The firm plans to use the money to develop its therapeutic pipeline.