CanSino Biologics’ PD-1/VEGF New Drug Sparks Revolution in Lung Cancer Treatment!

At the World Congress on Lung Cancer in September 2024, Kangfang Biotics released Evoxil monotherapy (PD-1/VEGF bispecial antibody) and Merck Pabolizumab monotherapy in the first-line treatment of PD-L1 expression positive (PD-L1 Key data from a registered Phase III clinical study (HARMONi-2/AK112-303) of locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with TPS≥1%.

Two months later, Merck also introduced a PD-1/VEGF bisspecific antibody: LM-299.

In addition to Merck, many well-known pharmaceutical companies have also invested in the field of PD-(L)1 dual antibody. In recent years, there have been frequent deals in this area, with Chinese biotech companies becoming the main transferers.

PD-1 and VEGF are often up-regulated and co-expressed in solid tumors. Anti-vegf drugs have synergistic effects with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) in promoting tumor vascular normalization and stimulating immune activation.

Kangfang's remarkable achievements in the HARMONi-2 study confirmed that PD-(L)1/VEGF double antibody has the potential to replace PD-1 monoclonal antibody.

Eboxizumab is currently approved in China for use in combination with pemetrexed and carboplatin for the treatment of EGFR mutation-positive locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous NSCLC patients who have progressed after treatment with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI). A marketing application has also been filed for the first-line treatment of ivoximab in patients with PD-L1 positive (TPS≥1%) NSCLC.

Other clinically advanced PD-(L)1/VEGF pipelines are almost all from China, which has triggered a rush to authorize domestic PD-(L)1/VEGF drugs to the sea.

However, PD-1 monoclonal antibody still faces problems such as low response rate, safety and drug resistance, so the market is full of expectations for the development of a new generation of immunotherapy. At present, PD-1/VEGF double antibody has been the first to achieve a breakthrough, and we look forward to more exciting progress in this field in the future.