Amgen's KRAS inhibitor in combination with PD-1 exposes safety concerns

Unsatisfactory results of KRAS G12C inhibitor sotorasib combined with PD-1 inhibitor

The 2022 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC2022) kicked off in Vienna, Austria on August 7.

Compared with single-agent therapy, patients treated with combination drugs exposed a typical red flag—their liver enzyme levels generally increased, which is the biggest challenge of this strategy

Amgen has its own take on the outcome

David Reese, head of research and development at Amgen, said that despite the low response rate to the strategy, for those who did, the average duration of response was 18 hours

It seems that many people in the industry do not buy it

Brian Skorney, Senior Analyst, Biotechnology Department, Baird (Beiard Capital): Based on the current data, the strategy of simultaneous administration of Lumakras and PD-1 is almost impossible due to liver toxicity

Salim, general manager and senior biotechnology analyst at Mizuho (Mizuho Financial Group): From the latest report on combined anti-PD-1/PD-L1, there is a problem of liver toxicity in combination therapy, and compared with Lumakras alone, combination therapy The increase in hepatotoxicity could not be explained by a marked increase in efficacy

Michael Yee, general manager of Jefferies (Jefferies Group): The PD1 combination data is mediocre, and the number of patients tested is very small, and it is difficult to explain that low doses or continuous doses have better performance

Summarize

For decades, the field has failed to make progress, and Lumakras, one of Amgen's many scientific achievements, is arguably a landmark breakthrough

But clinically, new theories and new strategies may not be welcomed, but that doesn't mean that no one is interested in them now

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