Spectrum Pharmaceutecals Inc (SPPI)

[antihama]

Poziotinib PR issued today. While not the SABCS metastatic BC study PR we were hoping for it’s interesting none the less in several ways in that it shows promise in a hard to treat lung cancer population and they (MD Anderson, I assume in collaboration w SPPI) will be starting a P2 study later this year. But before they do, the abstract says they’ll need to run some in vivo studies to gather some data (I’m a little stumped by that because I would assume that they already have a bunch of that type of data from Hanmi). Here’s some info from the abstract

Background:
Approximately 10% of EGFR mutant NSCLCs have an in-frame insertion in exon 20 of EGFR resulting in innate resistance to 1[st] generation TKIs. The reported response rate of patients with EGFR exon 20 insertions to gefitinib and erlotinib is 5% with a median progression free survival of 1.5 months. It has been shown that exon 20 insertions stabilize the active conformation of EGFR and increase affinity to ATP over TKIs. We hypothesize that exon 20 insertions induce conformational changes to the drug binding pocket resulting in EGFR TKI resistance which can be overcome by covalently binding TKIs.

Results:
In Ba/F3 cells with EGFR exon 20 insertions, most 1[st] and 3[rd] generation TKIs failed to inhibit growth of EGFR exon 20 insertions after residue 767 with IC~50 ~values above 100nM. However, poziotinib significantly inhibited cell growth of all EGFR exon 20 insertions tested across the helix and loop regions with an average IC~50~ value of 2.9nM, as compared to osimertinib and rocilentinib (IC~50~ values =103nM and 850nM, respectively). Further characterization using three-dimensional modeling revealed that exon 20 insertions induce conformational changes which cause a decreased affinity for 1[st] generation TKIs and steric hindrance of C797 reducing the ability of 3[rd] generation TKIs to covalently bind. A significant shift of the c-helix and p-loop result in a sterically hindered binding pocket. Therefore, the smaller, more flexible 1,2-dichloro-3-fluorobenzene terminal group of poziotinib can overcome the structural changes induced by the exon 20 insertions, whereas the ridged 1-methylindole terminal group of osimertinib cannot.

Conclusion:
EGFR exon 20 insertions induce a shift of the p-loop and c-helix resulting in steric hindrance of the binding pocket thereby preventing binding of 1[st] generation and 3[rd] generation EGFR inhibitors including rocilentinib and osimertinib. A smaller, more flexible inhibitor such as poziotinib can overcome the steric hindrance of the drug binding pocket. Currently, in vivo studies of the EGFR D770insNPG GEMM, and EGFR H773insNPH PDX model with poziotinib are underway, and a clinical trial testing poziotinib in EGFR exon 20 mutant NSCLC patients will begin enrollment this year.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/spectrum-pharmaceuticals-announces-poziotinib-data-120000939.html

Edit - If they do run a P2 study I so hope that they run a pivotal one not like this current US study they are running now. Use PFS for accelerated approval and continue the study in gathering OS data for possible full approval. They have a Director on their board, Anthony Maida, whose company he works for, NWBO, is currently running one. They should use his expertise.