A combination of vopimetostat and Revolution Medicines' daraxonrasib produced a 92% response rate in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer
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Tango Therapeutics released initial data Monday from a Phase 1/2 study showing that combining its drug vopimetostat with Revolution Medicines' daraxonrasib produced a 92% objective response rate in patients with advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, sending Tango stock up 53% to a record closing high.
Of the 12 pancreatic cancer patients who received the combination regimen, 11 saw their tumors shrink, the company said. Six-month data showed 90% of patients remained progression-free and the treatment achieved 100% disease control. Confirmation scans were still pending for two of those responding patients, Bloomberg noted.
Patients in the ongoing trial experienced relatively few serious adverse effects from either combination regimen, Barron's reported.
Based on the strength of these findings, Tango plans to launch a large-scale Phase 3 trial evaluating the combination as an initial therapy option for patients newly presenting with advanced pancreatic cancer, with enrollment targeted to begin before year-end, according to The Wall Street Journal.
"The results from our ongoing combination trial dramatically exceeded our expectations," Tango Therapeutics CEO Malte Peters said on a conference call Monday, according to Barron's.
On the same call, Brian Wolpin of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute — who served as a senior author on the Revolution phase 3 daraxonrasib trial — described the pairing as "clearly promising."
A separate arm of the study testing vopimetostat with a different Revolution drug, zoldonrasib, showed a 52% response rate and 74% six-month progression-free survival in pancreatic cancer patients, the company said. A small group of non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with the vopimetostat-daraxonrasib combination showed a 100% response rate.
The MTAP gene — frequently absent in pancreatic tumors and other cancers — is the target underlying vopimetostat's mechanism. Daraxonrasib, meanwhile, works against RAS mutations. Because resistance to daraxonrasib tends to emerge over time, companies across the industry have been racing to identify partner drugs capable of prolonging its benefit.
Monday's closing price of $30.93 brought Tango's year-to-date gain to 254%.
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