Portage Biotech Inc., a Westport-based clinical-stage immuno-oncology company developing therapies to improve patient lives and increase survival by avoiding and overcoming cancer treatment resistance, has entered into an agreement with Merck.
According to the companies, the collaboration will evaluate Portage”™s lead invariant natural killer T cell (iNKT) agonist, PORT-2, in combination with Keytruda (pembrolizumab), Merck”™s anti-PD-1 (programmed death receptor-1) therapy, for patients with front-line as well as PD-1 refractory non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Under the terms of the agreement, Merck will be providing KEYTRUDA for Portage Biotech”™s IMPORT-201 trial, a Phase 1/2 study of PORT-2 for patients with NSCLC and advanced melanoma (also known as Keynote E69). The two companies will establish a Joint Development Committee to optimally evaluate the study”™s combination arms.
“We are pleased to collaborate with Merck, a long-established leader in cancer immunotherapy, to explore how our complementary mechanism with Keytruda has the potential to further enhance long-term clinical benefit for people with cancer and also expand the eligible population to include those who do not currently receive anti-PD-1 therapy,” said Dr. Ian Walters, CEO Officer of Portage Biotech. “Checkpoint inhibitors have made a paradigm-shifting contribution to the cancer treatment landscape, but many patients still have a limited response or eventual recurrence. We see potential for our unique approach of using iNKT agonists to initiate an immune response in tumors that have become refractory to checkpoint therapy or to increase the number of front-line patients achieving more durable responses, and are excited to be collaborating with Merck to advance our clinical development for PORT-2.”
