Eli Lilly pancreatic cancer drug Pegilodecakin fails to meet endpoint

New Delhi: Eli Lilly and Company recently announced top-line results from its Phase 3 SEQUOIA trial evaluating pegilodecakin plus FOLFOX (folinic acid, 5-FU, oxaliplatin) compared to FOLFOX alone in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer whose disease had progressed during or following a first-line gemcitabine-containing regimen. The SEQUOIA trial did not meet its primary endpoint of overall survival.

In its recent release, Lilly stated that the most common Grade 3/4 adverse events occurring at a higher rate (>5% difference) on the pegilodecakin-plus-FOLFOX arm compared to the FOLFOX arm were neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, fatigue and anaemia. Detailed efficacy and safety results will be submitted for presentation at a future medical meeting.

Metastatic pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest major cancers, with just three per cent of patients in the U.S. living five years after the cancer is diagnosed. In the U.S., pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death and is expected to become the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the next decade.1 Globally, pancreatic cancer is the seventh leading cause of cancer-related death.2

"More than 56,700 Americans – mothers, daughters, fathers, sons, colleagues and friends – will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year alone," said Julie Fleshman, JD, MBA, president and CEO of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN). "Because this is an aggressive disease and the current scope of treatment options is limited, there remains an urgent need for meaningful solutions to improve outcomes for pancreatic cancer patients."

"Pancreatic cancer has proven to be one of the most difficult tumour types to treat and there have been very few recent treatment advancements in the later-line metastatic setting. We are grateful to the patients, investigators and researchers who participated in the study," said Maura Dickler, M.D., vice president, late phase development, Lilly Oncology. "While we are disappointed by the outcome of the SEQUOIA study, we look forward to the upcoming results in lung cancer, learning from those results and increasing our understanding of pegilodecakin's novel mechanism of action in cancer immunotherapy."

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Lilly gained pegilodecakin with the acquisition of ARMO BioSciences in June 2018. SEQUOIA was initiated by ARMO in March 2017 based on results of the Phase 1/1b IVY study, which evaluated pegilodecakin – used as a single agent and in combination with chemotherapy and with checkpoint inhibitor therapy – across multiple tumour types including pancreatic, non-small cell lung and renal cell cancers.

Results from the IVY trial were also the basis for the ongoing Phase 2 CYPRESS 1 and CYPRESS 2 studies of pegilodecakin in combination with checkpoint inhibitors in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The CYPRESS studies were initiated by ARMO in March 2018 and results, expected in early 2020, will inform future studies of pegilodecakin in NSCLC. For the next stage of pegilodecakin's clinical development, Lilly is focused on assessing biomarkers and conducting studies in NSCLC and other tumour types including renal cell carcinoma, where the molecule has shown promising activity.

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