NEW YORK – Jacobio Pharmaceuticals on Wednesday said it has dosed the first advanced colorectal cancer patient in a biomarker-selected trial underway in China exploring the activity of its investigational agent JAB-21822 combined with Eli Lilly's Erbitux (cetuximab).
The firm is evaluating JAB-21822, a KRAS G12C inhibitor, plus the EGFR inhibitor Erbitux in advanced colorectal cancer patients harboring KRAS G12C mutations. The trial is taking place at Peking University Cancer Hospital.
Last May, the US Food and Drug Administration accepted Jacobio's investigational new drug application, permitting the firm to begin evaluating JAB-21822 in patients with KRAS G12C-mutated cancers including colorectal and non-small cell lung cancers. The company is now recruiting KRAS G12C-mutated solid tumor patients in a Phase I/II trial of JAB-21822 alone and in combination with cetuximab at several US sites.
According to Yinxiang Wang, Jacobio's CEO and chairman, JAB-21822 has the potential to become a best-in-class KRAS G12C inhibitor on account of its "high activity and dose advantages." The firm is also conducting trials in the US and China evaluating the agent as a monotherapy and in combination with other drugs, such as with its SHP2 inhibitor JAB-3312 and checkpoint inhibitors.
JAB-21822 is Jacobio's first KRAS-targeting drug to enter clinical trials. The firm, which has locations in Beijing, Shanghai, and Boston, also has preclinical drug candidates targeting KRAS G12D and KRAS G12V, among other mutations in the RAS signaling pathway.