Benzinga | Jun 30, 2021 08:30AM EDT

Alpine Immune Sciences To Collaborate With Merck On Immuno-Oncology Study To Evaluate ALPN-202 In Combination With KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab)

Alpine Immune Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALPN), a leading clinical-stage immunotherapy company focused on developing innovative treatments for cancer and autoimmune/inflammatory diseases, announced today a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with Merck. This collaboration will evaluate the safety and efficacy of Alpine's ALPN-202, a first-in-class conditional CD28 costimulator and dual checkpoint inhibitor, in combination with Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy KEYTRUDA(r) (pembrolizumab), the first anti-PD-1 therapy approved in the United States. The clinical trial, NEON-2, began dosing study participants in June 2021.

"We are extremely pleased to collaborate with Merck, one of the world's leading immuno-oncology companies," said Stanford Peng, M.D., Ph.D., President and Head of R&D of Alpine. "Our prior preclinical studies demonstrated that the combination of ALPN-202 and a PD-1 inhibitor can be particularly advantageous, and this collaboration will greatly enable our ability to pursue this opportunity in the clinic. This study, in conjunction with NEON-1, ALPN-202's ongoing first-in-human monotherapy trial, will provide insights across a broad spectrum of cancers and lines of therapy."

KEYTRUDA(r) is a registered trademark of Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA.

About ALPN-202

ALPN-202 is a first-in-class, conditional CD28 costimulator and dual checkpoint inhibitor with the potential to improve upon the efficacy of combined checkpoint inhibition while limiting significant toxicities. Preclinical studies of ALPN-202 have successfully demonstrated superior efficacy in tumor models compared to checkpoint inhibition alone. NEON-1 (NCT04186637), a monotherapy study of ALPN-202 in patients with advanced malignancies, and NEON-2 (NCT04920383), a study of ALPN-202 in combination with KEYTRUDA(r) (pembrolizumab) in patients with advanced malignancies, are currently enrolling.