PsiOxus partners Bristol-Myers to treat late-stage cancer

PsiOxus Therapeutics, a UK-based cancer treatment developer backed by Imperial College’s tech transfer office Imperial Innovations, has secured $10m from pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb to test two tumour-fighting drugs.

The two drugs, to be used in combination to treat various types of tumours in late-stage cancer patients, are enadenotucirev, made by PsiOxus, and Opdivo, made by Bristol-Myers.

Enadenotucirev, which is delivered intravenously, is a virus that replicates only in tumour cells, thereby triggering certain immune responses to eliminate them. This therapeutic is currently in Phase 1 clinical studies for multiple types of solid tumours.

Opdivo is a drug known as an “immune checkpoint inhibitor” that inhibits certain immune system cells, such as white blood cells or T cells, from producing specific proteins.

These proteins serve as a check on immune responses, preventing T cells from destroying cancer cells. Opdivo relieves the suppression of the immune system, so that T cells can work more effectively to kill tumours. 

Opdivo is currently approved in 50 countries to treat metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, the dominant form of lung cancer representing about 85% of all cases, according to the American Cancer Society.

Bristol-Myers is providing a one-time upfront payment of $10m to PsiOxus to support Phase 1 clinical studies, to evaluate the safety and performance of the two drugs when used together, including the durability of results. Both parties will share development costs.

PsiOxus previously $34m in a series B round in 2012 from investors such as Imperial Innovations, pharmaceuticals company GlaxoSmithKline’s corporate venturing unit SR One, fund manager Invesco Perpetual and Lundbeckfond Ventures, owned by science research body Lundbeck Foundation.

Jean Viallet, global clinical research lead for oncology at Bristol-Myers, said: “We are excited to partner…PsiOxus to evaluate the combination of Opdivo and enadenotucirev to accelerate our understanding of its potential as a new therapeutic option for cancer patients.”

John Beadle, CEO of PsiOxus, said [Bristol-Myers] is an “ideal partner” as both companies “share a common vision of exploring novel combinations such as enadenotucirev and Opdivo to expand the range of patients who potentially respond favourably to checkpoint inhibitor therapy”.

Patient recruitment for the joint clinical studies is expected to start in the third quarter of 2016. Bristol-Myers will have a right of exclusive negotiation for commercial rights to enadenotucirev for a limited time.