Clinical-stage biotechnology company Immutep (ASX:IMM) has expanded its INSIGHT-003 trial to 4 sites across Germany, including the University Clinic of Ruhr Universitȁt Bochum and the Lung Clinic Cologne-Merheim. 

The site expansion supports a faster enrollment in this ‘cost-efficient, investigator-initiated’ study evaluating eftilagimod alpha (efti) in combination with anti-PD-1 therapy KEYTRUDA and doublet chemotherapy for first-line treatment of non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer. 

Immutep says the extension opened in mid-2023 and 29 patients have been enrolled to date. 

With the addition of the new sites, the trial is anticipated to complete recruitment in H1 CY2024. 

Eftilagimod alpha is a large-molecule cancer drug at a clinical-stage and is a soluble version of the immune checkpoint molecule LAG-3. Lymphocyte-activation gene 3 (LAG3, CD223) is an immune inhibitory checkpoint and is expressed on the surface of lymphocytes such as CD4 + T cells, CD8 + T cells, natural killer (NK) cells, NK T (NKT) cells, and regulatory T (Treg) cells (5, 6), as well as stored in the lysosomes, which appear on the surface faster when T cells are activated.

INISHT-003 is an investigator-initiated study conducted by the Frankfurt Institute of Clinical Cancer Research. 

Immutep is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel LAG-3 immunotherapy for cancer and autoimmune disease. 

Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au

Images: Ruhr University Bochum