Sanofi, Regeneron release positive results for carcinoma inhibitor

REGN2810 is also being evaluated in a Phase 2 study.
REGN2810 is also being evaluated in a Phase 2 study. | Contributed image

Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. recently announced positive results for a Phase 1 study evaluating investigational REGN2810, a checkpoint inhibitor targeting PD-1 (programmed death 1) in patients with advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC).

The companies presented the results of the findings at the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago via an oral presentation.

"Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma or CSCC is the second deadliest skin cancer after melanoma, according to the most recent data available," Dr. Kyriakos Papadopoulos, senior clinical investigator at South Texas Accelerated Research Therapeutics (START) and the study presenter, said in a statement.  "There are limited treatments and no established standards of care for advanced stages of this disease. CSCC has one of the highest mutation rates reported for any cancers, likely contributing to the study findings, which represent a high responder rate to a PD-1 antibody in a solid tumor cancer. These results are promising and suggest the PD-1 pathway is an important therapeutic target in these patients."

The companies noted that REGN2810 is also being evaluated in a Phase 2 study, titled Empower-CSCC 1. This study is ongoing and is an open label clinical trial that is enrolling advanced CSCC patients.