Protein Tyrosine Kinase 7 (PTK7) is a member of Wnt signaling pathways, expressed in various cancer types, and is associated with poor prognosis. In recent times, researchers seem to have increased their interest in PTK7. Abbvie and Pfizer are one of them, investigating Cofetuzumab pelidotin, a PTK7 targeting ADC in Phase I study. The Phase Ib trial included patients who have progressed on platinum doublet and immune checkpoint inhibitors and platinum doublet and targeted agents. The subset taken for analysis included patients with high PTK7 expression (≥90%)  with (≥2+) IHC staining positivity. 

Phase Ib evaluated various efficacy parameters including ORR, CBR (complete response (CR), partial response (PR), and stable disease(SD). The ORR was estimated to be approximately 21.4%, 15.4%, and 12.5% for NSQ EGFR WT,  NSQ EGFR mutant, and SQ respectively, while CBR was 46.4%, 61.5%, and 25.0% respectively. There was a sizable group of patients who had some amount of disease response that did not meet the 30% PR criteria in the EGFR WT group. The median overall survival was not reached for the EGFR wild-type patients. The mOS was approximately 12.6 months and 10.2 months for EGFR mutant and SQ respectively. 

In terms of safety, approximately 70% of the patients experienced grade 3 or higher treatment-emergent adverse events and approximately all patients had at least one TEAE. Dose reduction was required in approximately 23% of the patients while only one patient discontinued the treatment. Peripheral Neuropathy and neutropenia were among the leading TEAE because of which Cofe-P reduction and interruption occurred respectively with no treatment, drug-related death was reported. Overall the drug showed a manageable safety profile and encouraging preliminary efficacy profiles. 

 

KOL insights

“Cofe-P have demonstrated tolerable safety profile and preliminary antitumor activity in Phase I study and have shown manageable safety profile with most common TEAEs as Alopecia, neutropenia, and purities in ongoing Phase Ib study.” -Expert Opinion.

Conclusion

NSCLC is one of the most common types of lung cancer and contributes to approximately 85-90% of all lung cancer cases. With many companies investigating their potential candidates in first-line treatment settings, there still lies a treatment-related unmet need for recurrent patients. Protein Tyrosine Kinase 7 (PTK7) is an important target that is associated with poor prognosis. The drug also showed decent safety and efficacy results but the recent removal of this product from Abbvie’s pipeline has raised many questions. 

For more insight into the patient's burden/epidemiology, treatment, and changing market landscape-related advancements, refer to the Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Market Insight and Market Forecast Report and Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Pipeline Insight Report