InxMed and MSD Announce Global Clinical Collaboration to Evaluate IN10018 in Combination with Pembrolizumab for Pancreatic Cancer

SHANGHAI, Jan. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Inxmed (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. ("Inxmed" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage biotechnology innovator dedicated to developing innovative, personalized medicines with global impact, announced that it has recently entered into a global clinical collaboration with Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA (known as MSD outside the United States and Canada). The two parties will jointly evaluate the safety, pharmacokinetics, and antitumor efficacy of combining IN0018, Inxmed's focal adhesion kinase (FAK) inhibitor, with pembrolizumab, MSD's globally leading PD-1 cancer immunotherapy, in the treatment of pancreatic cancer. This marks the first global clinical study under this collaboration. Inxmed will serve as the primary sponsor of the study, while MSD will provide the pembrolizumab required for the trial.

Dr. Wang Zaiqi, Founder and CEO of Inxmed, stated: “Modulating the tumor microenvironment is one of the key elements in overcoming cancer, and IN10018 is a‘Best-in-class’potential FAK inhibitor capable of overcoming the fibrotic barrier of the tumor stroma and exerting a significant impact on the tumor microenvironment. We are delighted that Inxmed has entered into a pivotal global clinical collaboration with MSD. We look forward to new breakthroughs in pancreatic cancer treatment through the evaluation of the combination therapy of IN10018 and pembrolizumab. This collaboration marks Inxmed’s‘Optimal Combination Drug Development’"The implementation of the strategy has taken another important step forward."

Dr. Manuel Hidalgo Medina, Chief of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, and a world-leading expert in pancreatic cancer, stated, “There is a significant unmet clinical need in the field of pancreatic cancer treatment. We need to simultaneously target tumor cells and the tumor stroma to develop more effective therapeutic regimens. Through combination with other treatment paradigms, FAK inhibitors hold promise as game-changers in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.”

"The tumor stroma is one of the key issues in pancreatic cancer treatment"，”Professor Paul Timpson of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, a leading authority on tumor stroma and drug resistance research who has published related findings in top-tier academic journals such as Nature Communications, commented:，“Our recent research indicates that, mechanistically, FAK inhibitors can significantly reduce the level of fibrosis in the tumor stroma, thereby enabling therapeutic agents to penetrate into the tumor core and enhancing the sensitivity of pancreatic cancer patients to chemotherapy or immunotherapy.”

AboutIN10018

IN10018, formerly known by the compound code BI853520, is a highly potent and selective ATP-competitive focal adhesion kinase (FAK) inhibitor currently in clinical development in both the United States and China. Inxmed holds the exclusive global rights for the development and commercialization of this compound. Early clinical data for IN10018 have demonstrated favorable safety profiles and efficacy across multiple tumor types. Both recent findings on the molecular biological mechanisms of disease and preclinical data indicate that, in addition to its monotherapy efficacy, IN10018 has the potential to overcome the fibrotic barrier of the tumor stroma and enhance local immune function, thereby improving the therapeutic outcomes of targeted therapies, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy. As such, it represents a novel combination therapy option to complement existing treatment regimens.

About Inxmed

Inxmed, founded in late 2018, is an emerging biotechnology company in the clinical development stage. Driven by disease biology as the source of innovation, the company is committed to building an efficient engine for clinical translation and proof-of-concept, aiming to become a novel drug developer based in China with global impact. Inxmed has completed tens of millions of US dollars in Series A financing, established high-caliber R&D and clinical teams spanning Shanghai, Beijing, the United States, Canada, and Australia, and built a globally patented pipeline oriented toward “best-in-class combination therapy development.” The company has also formed partnerships with numerous multinational pharmaceutical companies, including MSD, Roche, and Boehringer Ingelheim.

For more information, please visit the company website.www.inxmed.com。