Novartis cancer therapy MET inhibitor capmatinib granted USFDA priority review

Priority Review is granted to therapies that the FDA determines have the potential to provide significant improvements in the treatment, diagnosis or prevention of serious conditions. This designation shortens the FDA review period following the acceptance of the NDA to six months compared to ten months under Standard Review. Novartis was previously granted Breakthrough Therapy designation for capmatinib.

Capmatinib (INC280) is an investigational, oral, potent and selective MET inhibitor licensed to Novartis by Incyte Corporation in 2009. Under the Agreement, Incyte granted Novartis worldwide exclusive development and commercialization rights to capmatinib and certain back-up compounds in all indications.

There are currently no approved therapies that specifically target METex14 mutated advanced NSCLC. NSCLC accounts for approximately 85% of lung cancer diagnoses4. METex14 mutations occur in 3-4% of newly diagnosed advanced NSCLC cases5 and is a recognized oncogenic driver6,7. As part of the continued collaboration between Novartis and Foundation Medicine, Inc., companion diagnostics for capmatinib are in development for both tumor tissue and liquid biopsies to be included on FoundationOne®CDx* and the forthcoming version of Foundation Medicine's liquid biopsy platform, which is currently under review with the FDA. Foundation Medicine is a leading provider of comprehensive genomic profiling solutions for patients with advanced cancer, including NSCLC.

"We are extremely encouraged by the FDA's Priority Review designation for capmatinib, a MET inhibitor that may be a major treatment advance for patients with this particularly aggressive form of lung cancer," said John Tsai, M.D., Head of Global Drug Development and Chief Medical Officer, Novartis. "Results of the GEOMETRY mono-1 trial clearly identify METex14 as an oncogenic driver and we are inspired to bring capmatinib, potentially the first METex14 targeted therapy, to patients and to reimagine medicine and outcomes for people with lung cancer."

The NDA submission for capmatinib is supported by results from the GEOMETRY mono-1 Phase II study, which demonstrated an overall response rate of 67.9% (95% CI, 47.6 - 84.1)1 and 40.6% (95% CI, 28.9 - 53.1)1 among treatment-naïve and previously treated patients, respectively, based on the Blinded Independent Review Committee (BIRC) assessment per RECIST v1.1. The study also demonstrated that capmatinib provided durable responses among all patients: median duration of response was 11.14 months (95% CI, 5.55 - NE) in treatment-naïve patients and 9.72 months (95% CI, 5.55 - 12.98) in previously treated patients1.

All results were based on an independent assessment by the BIRC, and all tumor CT scans were evaluated in parallel by two radiologists to confirm the response1. The most common treatment-related adverse events (AE) (≥ 10% all grades) across all cohorts (N=334), were peripheral edema (42%), nausea (33%), creatinine increase (20%), vomiting (19%), fatigue (14%), decreased appetite (13%) and diarrhea (11%). The majority of the AEs were graded 1/2.

Read also: Novartis blockbuster Mayzent wins European nod for multiple sclerosis