The Immutep Ltd (ASX: IMM) share price is jumping on Monday.
In morning trade, the ASX All Ords biotech stock is up 16% to 32 cents.
Why is this ASX All Ords stock racing higher?
Investors have been buying the company's shares today following the release of new clinical data from the Tacti-002/Keynote-798 Phase II trial.
This trial is evaluating eftilagimod alpha (efti), a soluble LAG-3 protein and first-in-class MHC Class II agonist, in combination with the anti-PD-1 therapy Keytruda owned by Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) as first-line treatment for patients with previously untreated unresectable or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
According to the release, the clinical data has revealed "promising overall survival, overall response rate, progression free survival, and duration of response visible across all PD-L1 subgroups." Management believes this clearly differentiates efti in combination with Keytruda from other chemotherapy-free immuno-oncology combinations in non-small cell lung cancer.
The ASX All Ords stock's CEO, Marc Voigt, commented:
We are extremely pleased to report these excellent overall survival results, the gold standard benchmark within oncology, in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, and believe these are among the strongest ever delivered in a sizable Phase II clinical trial like TACTI-002 evaluating a dual immuno-oncology approach. The strength of the data positions us well as we continue to plan and prepare for our Phase III trial that we expect to launch next year.
Lung cancer is the second most common cancer. Non-small cell lung cancer accounts for approximately 80% to 85% of all lung cancers, impacting an estimated 1.87 million people annually, and is the highest cause of death among all cancers.
