Agenus presents clinical data from MSS CRC 70 patient cohort of a Phase 1b

Agenus announced clinical data from the MSS CRC 70 patient cohort of a Phase 1b study of botensilimab in combination with balstilimab in patients with chemotherapy and/or immunotherapy-resistant tumors. "The larger dataset continues to demonstrate that this combination offers superior efficacy and durability compared to what has been reported for standard of care and other investigational therapies in third line metastatic MSS CRC," the company said. The data were presented in the opening late-breaking oral session at the American Society of Clinical Oncology – Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, CA on Saturday Jan 21 2023. "This data highlight the deep and durable responses achieved with botensilimab and balstilimab in advanced MSS CRC, underscoring remarkable benefit for these patients who have failed standard of care or other investigative therapies. With over 300 patients enrolled to date, botensilimab alone and in combination with balstilimab have demonstrated durable clinical responses across nine cold and treatment-resistant cancers," said Steven O’Day, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Agenus. "Our top priority is to advance this combination in global randomized trials with the intent to bring this important treatment to patients expeditiously." Objective responses: 23% overall response rate; Other PD-(L)1 + CTLA-4 combinations in comparable patient populations have reported 1-5% response rates; 69% of objective responses were ongoing at data cut-off; 76% disease control rate. Survival:12-month overall survival of 63%; Reported 12-month overall survival for standard of care is ~25%; Median overall survival has not been reached