NEW YORK – Immunocore on Monday estimated that the uveal melanoma therapy Kimmtrak (tebentafusp-tebn) contributed $140 million to its 2022 revenues and announced the addition of three new drug candidates to its oncology pipeline.
The firm garnered US Food and Drug Administration approval for Kimmtrak as treatment for HLA-A*02:01-positive advanced uveal melanoma a year ago. The T-cell receptor (TCR) therapy is a bispecific protein designed to target gp100, an antigen expressed in HLA-A*02:01-positive melanoma cells. The treatment binds to this antigen and directs patients' T cells to attack the cancer cells.
More than 30 countries have now approved Kimmtrak for this patient population, and according to Immunocore, the drug brought in preliminary, unaudited net sales of roughly $50 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 and $140 million during the full year. The firm plans to expand the drug's label and is enrolling patients with cutaneous melanoma into a Phase II/III Kimmtrak trial. Immunocore said that its preliminary unaudited cash and cash equivalents were about $400 million at the end of 2022.
Beyond Kimmtrak, Immunocore announced three new products it will develop this year. The first is IMC-T119C, a so-called immune mobilizing monoclonal TCR against cancer (ImmTAC) that targets a PRAME protein presented by HLA-A24. The HLA-A24 type is expressed by roughly 60 percent of people in Japan and by 15 percent to 20 percent of Western populations. The firm is already developing a similar candidate, IMC-F106C, targeting PRAME presented by HLA-A02, which is expressed in roughly 40 percent of Western populations. The new candidate would allow more patients access to an ImmTAC.
Separately, Immunocore is developing IMC-P115C, which also targets PRAME for patients with HLA-A02 but has an extended half-life to make the treatment more convenient for patients.
Lastly, the drugmaker said it is developing IMC-R117C, which targets PIWIL1, a newly identified biomarker that is expressed across colorectal, gastroesophageal, and pancreatic cancers and is thought to confer a negative prognosis. Immunocore said it will submit an investigational new drug application to the FDA in the fourth quarter of 2023 seeking permission to evaluate the drug in clinical trials.