Drug development company BiolineRX Ltd. (Nasdaq: BLRX); TASE:BLRX) today announced it had signed an agreement with pharmaceutical powerhouse Genentech of the Roche Group for cooperation in a clinical trial for testing a combination of the two companies' drugs in the treatment of a number of types of solid-tumor cancer and AML leukemia. BioLIneRX's cancer drug, BL-8040, is currently in simultaneous Phase II trials for treatment of AML and in combination with Merck's KEYTRUDA, which is already on the market for treatment of several types of cancer. Following the announcement, the BioLineRX share price rose 1%, lifting the company's market cap to NIS 187 million.
Under the agreement with Genentech, BioLineRX's product will be tested in combination with Genentech's Atezolizumab (brand name Tecentriq), part of a family of cancer drugs that induce the immune system to combat the disease (autoimmune drugs). Genentech's drug was approved for marketing last May for treatment of prostate cancer, and is also being tested independently and in different combinations for other types of cancer.
In the first stage, the safety profile of the combination of the two drugs and the drug's behavior in the patients' bodies will be tested, and the companies will look for hints about the effectiveness of the drug. Genentech will finance these trials, while BioLineRX will finance a trial conducted for the combination of the two drugs in the treatment of AML.
BL-8040 directly kills cancer cells
The trials with be without a control group, as is usually the case in cancer trials at this stage, but will take place at multiple medical centers. If one of these trials produces successful results, each of the parties will have the option to continue the cooperation with a larger trial that could potentially prove to be a pre-approval trial. BL-8040 is a new category of cancer drug; it delays the CXCR4 protein, and has been shown in several clinical trials to be a robust mobilizer of immune cells and to be effective at inducing direct tumor cell death.
BioLineRx chief financial and operating officer Philip Serlin, soon to become CEO, said, "This collaboration agreement in multiple cancer indications with Genentech marks our second collaboration with a world leader in cancer immunotherapy for the combination of BL-8040 with an approved immune checkpoint inhibitor. Immune checkpoint inhibitors are a new class of promising drugs that have revolutionized anti-cancer treatment; however, it is becoming clear that certain tumor types will require a combination of immunotherapy with other classes of drugs."
Last month, BioLineRX reported that CEO Dr. Kinneret Savitsky, would leave her position and be replaced by Serlin. Savitzky has been CEO since 2010, and the capital market has been harshly critical of her, following the failure of two of the company's major advanced trials, involving drugs for treatment of schizophrenia and heart attacks. The company share price has lost more than 90% of its value during her term in office. The company chairman is Dr. Aharon Schwartz.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 7, 2016
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