Interrogating Novel Targets for Enhancing I/O Therapy and for Use in Combination with Checkpoint Inhibitors in Lung Cancer

Summary

• NSCLC is the most common type of lung cancer in the United States
• Dr. Altorki, a world-renowned thoracic surgeon and lung cancer specialist, is focusing on identifying additional targets to improve cancer therapies
• He has developed a unique biobank of patient-derived materials to identify and elucidate the mechanism of action (MoA) of novel combination therapies for treating lung cancer
• The biobank includes pre- and post-treatment samples (frozen, FFPE, normal and tumor tissue, frozen single cell suspension of tumors and blood taken pre-, mid- and post-therapy)

Technical Overview

• Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) such as anti-PD-1 and PD-L1 have revolutionized the treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
• Dr. Altorki conducted a Phase II trial evaluating the combination of neoadjuvant durvalumab + stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) in early NSCLC
• Results of the trial indicate that more than 50% of patients who were given dual therapy exhibited a major pathological response (MPR)
• However, only 6.8% of patients who received durvalumab only exhibited an MPR
• The treatment was deemed safe and effective in the trial across all patient groups (Table1)
• Dr. Altorki’s platform paves the way to identify and develop novel combination therapies that will further improve cancer treatment efficacy

Table 1: Summary of clinical data demonstrating improved efficacy of SBRT combination therapy.

Market Opportunity

• NSCLC accounts for 82% of all Lung Cancer diagnoses
• Combination therapy has demonstrated improved effectiveness over monotherapy

Partnering Opportunity

• Weill Cornell Medicine is seeking an industrial partner with deep domain expertise and a presence in the PD1/L1 space who will help further develop the novel platform for clinical applications
• Dr. Altorki has already demonstrated that low doses of sub-ablative stereotactic radiation (8GyX3) in combination with durvalumab is efficacious against NSCLC
• Dr. Altorki’s extensive and highly curated biobank offers a unique and novel tool to discover novel therapies and understand MoA in order to improve existing therapies