Humanigen Inc (HGENQ)

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Humanigen Announces Clinical Trial Collaboration to Evaluate Lenzilumab in Acute Graft Versus Host Disease

https://ir.humanigen.com/English/news/news-details/2021/Humanigen-Announces-Clinical-Trial-Collaboration-to-Evaluate-Lenzilumab-in-Acute-Graft-Versus-Host-Disease/default.aspx

-Humanigen is supporting the University of Birmingham to conduct a Phase 2/3, potentially registrational, clinical trial at IMPACT stem cell transplant centers across the United Kingdom

-The “Risk Adapted Therapy in Acute GvHD”, or “RATinG”, study is expected to begin enrolling in 1H22

BURLINGAME, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Humanigen, Inc. (Nasdaq: HGEN), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on preventing and treating an immune hyper-response called ‘cytokine storm’ with its lead drug candidate, lenzilumab, today announced it plans to support a Phase 2/3 study to evaluate lenzilumab for the early treatment of acute graft versus host disease (aGvHD) following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in collaboration with IMPACT, a world class accelerated trial network delivering innovative research for stem cell transplant patients in the UK. IMPACT delivers innovative research in partnership with the British Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation and the University of Birmingham’s Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit. The safety run-in component of the RATinG study is anticipated to be completed in 2022. The study is partially funded by IMPACT with Humanigen providing lenzilumab and the remaining funding for the study.

“The IMPACT partnership is committed to improving the outcomes of stem cell transplant patients. Management of aGvHD disease is an area of significant unmet need in stem cell transplantation and I am really excited to collaborate with Humanigen and IMPACT to deliver on the promise of this therapeutic approach for patients with high risk aGvHD,” said Professor Adrian Bloor MA, MB BChir, PhD, FRCP, FRCPath, Director of Stem Cell Transplantation, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust.

Lenzilumab neutralizes the immune signalling protein granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), which has been shown to initiate the inflammatory cascade that drives aGvHD, a serious condition with significant unmet needs that affects 30%-50% of all patients who undergo HSCT.1, 2

“We are pleased to be supporting the RATinG study in collaboration with IMPACT, the UK’s stem cell transplant clinical trials partnership, to evaluate lenzilumab, which represents a potential way to spare patients from the devastating effects of steroid refractory aGvHD after undergoing allogeneic HSCT,” said Cameron Durrant, Chairman and CEO, Humanigen.

About the Risk Adapted Therapy in Acute Graft versus Host Disease (RATinG) study

The RATinG study will evaluate lenzilumab in patients who have undergone allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and been diagnosed with high-risk aGvHD. The trial will be conducted at up to 22 sites across the UK transplant network in two stages. The first stage of the study will treat 20 patients with lenzilumab before halting for an interim assessment of safety, efficacy, and futility. If an independent data monitoring committee deem the second stage to be feasible, then the trial will progress to its double-blind, randomized (1:1), second stage, which will enroll a minimum of 220 patients. A second interim analysis is planned to assess futility based upon the 28-day response rate to the first infusion in the first 150 evaluable patients.

Within seven days following clinical diagnosis of aGvHD, investigators will assess patients’ risk for steroid refractory aGvHD as measured by the Mount Sinai Acute GvHD International Consortium (MAGIC) biomarkers. Intermediate and high-risk groups will be treated with lenzilumab plus steroids in stage 1 and randomized to receive lenzilumab plus steroids or placebo plus steroids in stage 2. The stage 2 primary endpoint, non-relapse mortality, will be assessed once all patients have completed at least 6 months follow up.

About Lenzilumab

Lenzilumab is a proprietary Humaneered® first-in-class monoclonal antibody that has been proven to neutralize GM-CSF, a cytokine of critical importance in the hyperinflammatory cascade, sometimes referred to as cytokine release syndrome, or cytokine storm, associated with COVID-19 and other indications. Lenzilumab binds to and neutralizes GM-CSF, consequently improving outcomes for patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Humanigen believes that its GM-CSF neutralization has the potential to reduce the hyper-inflammatory cascade known as cytokine release syndrome common to chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy and aGvHD.

In CAR-T, lenzilumab successfully achieved the pre-specified primary endpoint at the recommended dose in a Phase 1b study with Yescarta® in which the overall response rate was 100% and no patient experienced severe cytokine release syndrome or severe neurotoxicity. Based on these results, Humanigen plans to test lenzilumab in a randomized, multicenter, potentially registrational, Phase 2 study to evaluate its efficacy and safety when combined with other commercially available CD19 CAR-T therapies in non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Lenzilumab will also be tested to assess its ability to prevent and/or treat aGvHD in patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

A study of lenzilumab is also underway for patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) exhibiting RAS pathway mutations. This study will build on evidence from a Phase 1 study, conducted by Humanigen, that showed RAS mutations are associated with hyper-proliferative features, which may be sensitive to GM-CSF neutralization.