Biotech Values

[RockRat]

Re: JNCE There is some prior preclinical work that suggests the combo with anti-CTLA-4 could work. The relevant papers are this one

Engagement of the ICOS pathway markedly enhances efficacy of CTLA-4 blockade in cancer immunotherapy

and this one

Distinct cellular mechanisms underlie anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD-1 checkpoint blockade

The question is how long it will take to get the trial going, and whether or not they have to raise before a readout. I gather that they are adding ipi into the adaptive ICONIC trial, so maybe reasonably soon, and they do have two or three years cash, I guess.

But I stopped paying attention after the ICONIC flop at ASCO last year. The obvious caveat is that there was preclinical data to support the PD-1 combo, but they barely got a signal: in PD-1 naive patients the response rates was no better than PD-1 alone, and the best they could do in PD-1 failures was disease control. Who's to say the murine results are any more predictive with anti-CTLA-4? What patients are getting ipi? Because . . .

The anti-CTLA-4 mouse models were for melanoma and prostate cancer. There has been progress in these cancers lately, and the bar is therefore high as far as having a competitive program.

Meanwhile, they seem to think they just have to have their own PD-1 inhibitor. Why? There are so many, they should be able to get a deal on one for combos. Especially if their partner, Celgene, does in fact get munched by BMY. And what might BMY do with this partnership? There's no upside to the munch for Jounce, and some risk the program gets returned to them.

Too much risk for moi, both clinical and commercial. Interesting science, and fun to watch, but not going to get involved.

Regards, RockRat