This is an edited version of an article by Chris Ryan published 21 June 2022 by The Clearity Foundation.
The antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) farletuzumab ecteribulin (MORab-202) demonstrated notable antitumor activity with a manageable safety profile in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, according to data from the dose-expansion portion of the phase 1 Study 101 trial (NCT03386942) presented during the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting.
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“We are encouraged by the clinical safety and efficacy results, as measured by the preliminary antitumor activity observed in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer being treated with each dose of farletuzumab ecteribulin, and with varying levels of folate receptor-alpha [FRα] expression,” Shin Nishio, MD, PhD, lead study author and an associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Kurume University School of Medicine in Fukuoka, Japan, stated in a press release.
Farletuzumab ecteribulin is comprised of the humanized anti-FRα monoclonal antibody, farletuzumab, linked to the cytotoxic microtubule inhibitor, eribulin (Halaven). The ADC delivers the eribulin payload into cancer cells that express FRα.“Based on the data from preclinical studies, farletuzumab ecteribulin has the clinical potential to elicit a bystander effect through an enzymatically cleavable linker that releases a toxic payload from the antibody, therefore acting not only on the FRα-positive cancer cells, but also the FRα-negative cancer cells surrounding the FRα-positive cancer cells,” Nishio added. “As the field of targeted therapy continues to evolve, ADCs are anticipated to become a key modality in the treatment of recurrent, platinum-resistant disease.”