FRANKFURT (Reuters) – BioNTech and its U.S. partner OncoC4 Inc say they have started a late-stage study of their lung cancer immunotherapy candidate as the German COVID-19 vaccine maker seeks to advance its traditional focus on oncology drug development.
The Phase III trial, which can potentially lead to a regulatory filing, will enrol about 600 patients, the companies said in a statement on Thursday.
It will seek to show a benefit for people suffering from metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, which has progressed despite treatment with so-called checkpoint inhibitor drugs such as Merck & Co’s Keytruda.
Earlier this month, a mid-stage trial showed that the drug candidate known as gotistobart shrunk tumours in close to 30% of study participants.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, Editing by Friederike Heine)
