Immutep Limited (NASDAQ:IMMP) is trading higher in the pre-market session after the news on Tuesday. The stock went up 4.50% on Thursday as well.
Immutep Enters Into A New Collaboration With Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany For LAG-3 Therapy, Efti
- announces a new collaboration and supply agreement with Merck KGaA , Darmstadt, Germany for a Phase I/IIa clinical trial in patients with solid tumours, called INSIGHT-005.
- The trial will evaluate the feasibility, safety and efficacy of Immutep’s lead product candidate, eftilagimod alpha (efti or IMP321), when given in combination with bintrafusp alfa (M7824), an investigational bifunctional fusion protein immunotherapy being jointly developed by Merck, Darmstadt, Germany and GlaxoSmithKline. Bintrafusp alfa aims to block two immunosuppressive pathways, TGF-β and PD-L1, while efti activates antigen presenting cells, via the LAG-3 – MHC II pathway.
- INSIGHT-005 will be conducted by the Institute of Clinical Cancer Research, at Krankenhaus Nordwest in Frankfurt, Germany (IKF) as an investigator-initiated trial, with Prof. Dr. Salah-Eddin Al-Batran as lead investigator. The study will be run as an amendment to the protocol of the ongoing Phase I INSIGHT trial as the fifth arm (Stratum E). Prof. Al-Batran is also the lead investigator of INSIGHT and INSIGHT-004 and a member of Immutep’s clinical advisory board.
“Through INSIGHT-005, we plan to explore the effect of releasing the brakes and pushing the accelerator of the body’s immune system in three different positions of the cancer immunity cycle. The new trial builds on our knowledge and the encouraging data from the INSIGHT trial of efti, also in solid tumours. We are excited about this new clinical collaboration which allows us to extend and strengthen our relationship with an existing partner in a new and exciting setting, particularly at a time when there is growing awareness and validation of the LAG-3 MHC class II interaction,” said Immutep CEO Marc Voigt.
Market Action
As of 8:48, IMMP stock surged $0.40 or 8% to $5.44. So far the stock has traded 53K shares traded hands.
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