• Phase Ib studies of dara­tu­mu­mab in com­bi­na­tion with Roche’s immune checkpoint inhibitor atezo­lizu­mab in a solid tumor and multiple myeloma to be started
• Studies conducted under a clin­i­cal trial col­lab­o­ra­tion agree­ment be­tween Janssen and Roche

Copenhagen, Denmark (Press Release) – Genmab A/S (Nasdaq Copenhagen: GEN) announced today that dara­tu­mu­mab will be in­ves­ti­gated in early stage clin­i­cal studies in com­bi­na­tion with atezo­lizu­mab (anti-PD-L1 anti­body), in a solid tumor and multiple myeloma. The studies will be conducted under a clin­i­cal trial col­lab­o­ra­tion agree­ment be­tween Genmab’s licensing partner for dara­tu­mu­mab, Janssen Biotech, Inc., and Genentech, a member of the Roche Group. Atezolizumab is an inves­ti­ga­tional mono­clonal anti­body de­signed to bind to a protein called PD-L1, which is ex­pressed on tumor cells and tumor-infiltrating immune cells. Janssen will conduct a Phase Ib study of dara­tu­mu­mab in com­bi­na­tion with atezo­lizu­mab to treat a solid tumor. Genentech will amend an ongoing Phase Ib study to assess atezo­lizu­mab in com­bi­na­tion with dara­tu­mu­mab, with dara­tu­mu­mab and lena­lido­mide, and with dara­tu­mu­mab and poma­lido­mide in re­lapsed/​refractory multiple myeloma (NCT02431208). The studies are ex­pec­ted to start enrolling patients later this year and in­­for­ma­tion about the studies will be posted on www.clinicaltrials.gov.

“We are very excited about the start of the first study to in­ves­ti­gate dara­tu­mu­mab in a solid tumor, poten­tially expanding its clin­i­cal utility beyond hema­to­logical cancers. We are equally excited about testing dara­tumu­mab in com­bi­na­tion with an immune checkpoint inhibitor, such as Roche’s anti-PDL1, atezo­lizu­mab, in multiple myeloma. Both studies mark a key next step in the expansive clin­i­cal devel­op­ment of dara­tu­mu­mab in the hope to find even more effective treat­ment options for cancer patients,” said Jan van de Winkel, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Genmab.

About DARZALEX® (dara­tu­mu­mab)

DARZALEX® (dara­tu­mu­mab) injection for in­tra­venous in­fusion is indicated in the United States for the treat­ment of patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least three prior lines of ther­apy, in­­clud­ing a pro­te­a­some inhibitor (PI) and an immuno­modu­la­tory agent, or who are double-refractory to a PI and an immuno­modu­la­tory agent.¹ DARZALEX is the first mono­clonal anti­body (mAb) to receive U.S. Food and Drug Admin­istra­tion (FDA) approval to treat multiple myeloma. For more in­­for­ma­tion, visit www.DARZALEX.com.

Daratumumab is a human IgG1k mono­clonal anti­body (mAb) that binds with high affinity to the CD38 molecule, which is highly ex­pressed on the surface of multiple myeloma cells. It is believed to induce rapid tumor cell death through pro­grammed cell death, or apop­tosis,^1,2 and multiple immune-mediated mecha­nisms, in­­clud­ing complement-dependent cyto­tox­icity,^1,2 anti­body-dependent cellular phago­cytosis^3,4 and anti­body-dependent cellular cyto­tox­icity.^1,2 In addi­tion, dara­tu­mu­mab ther­apy results in a reduction of immune-suppressive myeloid derived sup­pressor cells (MDSCs) and a subset of regu­la­tory T cells (Tregs) and B cells (Bregs), all of which express CD38. These reductions in MDSCs, Tregs, and Bregs were paralleled by in­­creases in CD4+ and CD8+ T cell numbers in both the periph­eral blood and bone marrow.¹

Daratumumab is being devel­oped by Janssen Biotech, Inc. under an exclusive world­wide license to develop, manu­fac­ture and com­mer­cial­ize dara­tu­mu­mab from Genmab. Five Phase III clin­i­cal studies with dara­tumu­mab in re­lapsed and frontline settings are cur­rently ongoing, and addi­tional studies are ongoing or planned to assess its poten­tial in other malignant and pre-malignant diseases on which CD38 is ex­pressed, such as smol­der­ing myeloma and non-Hodgkin’s lym­phoma.

About Genmab

Genmab is a publicly traded, inter­na­tional bio­technology com­pany specializing in the creation and devel­op­ment of dif­fer­en­ti­ated anti­body thera­peutics for the treat­ment of cancer. Founded in 1999, the com­pany has two approved anti­bodies, Arzerra® (ofatumumab) for the treat­ment of certain chronic lym­pho­cytic leukemia indi­ca­tions and DARZALEX® (dara­tu­mu­mab) for the treat­ment of heavily pre­treated or double refractory multiple myeloma. Dara­tu­mu­mab is in clin­i­cal devel­op­ment for addi­tional multiple myeloma indi­ca­tions and for non-Hodgkin’s lym­phoma. Genmab also has a broad clin­i­cal and pre-clinical prod­uct pipe­line. Genmab's tech­nology base consists of val­i­dated and pro­pri­e­tary next generation anti­body tech­nolo­gies - the DuoBody® plat­form for generation of bispecific anti­bodies, and the HexaBody® plat­form which creates effector function en­hanced anti­bodies. The com­pany in­tends to leverage these tech­nolo­gies to create oppor­tu­ni­ties for full or co-ownership of future prod­ucts. Genmab has alliances with top tier pharma­ceu­tical and bio­technology com­pa­nies. For more in­­for­ma­tion visit www.genmab.com.

This Company Announcement con­tains for­ward looking state­ments. The words “believe”, “expect”, “antici­pate”, “intend” and “plan” and similar ex­pres­sions identify for­ward looking state­ments. Actual results or per­for­mance may differ ma­teri­ally from any future results or per­for­mance ex­pressed or implied by such state­ments. The im­por­tant factors that could cause our actual results or per­for­mance to differ ma­teri­ally in­clude, among others, risks asso­ci­ated with pre-clinical and clin­i­cal devel­op­ment of prod­ucts, un­cer­tain­ties related to the out­come and conduct of clin­i­cal trials in­­clud­ing un­fore­seen safety issues, un­cer­tain­ties related to prod­uct manu­fac­tur­ing, the lack of mar­ket acceptance of our prod­ucts, our in­abil­ity to man­age growth, the competitive en­viron­ment in rela­tion­ to our business area and mar­kets, our in­abil­ity to attract and retain suitably qualified per­son­nel, the un­en­force­ability or lack of protection of our patents and pro­pri­e­tary rights, our rela­tion­ships with affiliated entities, changes and devel­op­ments in tech­nology which may render our prod­ucts obsolete, and other factors. For a further discussion of these risks, please refer to the risk man­agement sections in Genmab’s most recent financial reports, which are avail­able on www.genmab.com. Genmab does not under­take any obli­ga­tion to update or revise for­ward looking state­ments in this Company Announcement nor to con­firm such state­ments in rela­tion­ to actual results, unless required by law.

Genmab A/S and its sub­sid­i­aries own the fol­low­ing trademarks: Genmab^®; the Y-shaped Genmab logo^®; Genmab in com­bi­na­tion with the Y-shaped Genmab logo™; the DuoBody logo^®; the HexaBody logo™; HuMax^®; HuMax-CD20^®; DuoBody^®; HexaBody^® and UniBody^®. Arzerra^® is a trademark of Novartis AG or its affiliates. DARZALEX^® is a trademark of Janssen Biotech, Inc.

References:

1. DARZALEX Prescribing Information, November 2015.
2. De Weers et al. Daratumumab, a Novel Therapeutic Human CD38 Monoclonal Antibody, Induces Killing of Multiple Myeloma and Other Hematological Tumors. The Journal of Immunology. 2011; 186: 1840-1848.
3. Overjijk MB, et al. Antibody-mediated phagocytosis contributes to the anti-tumor activity of the therapeutic antibody daratumumab in lymphoma and multiple myeloma. MAbs. 2015; 7: 311-21.
4. Khagi and Mark. Potential role of daratumumab in the treatment of multiple myeloma. Onco Targets Ther. 2014; 7: 1095–1100.

Source: Genmab.