Wednesday, June 10, 2020
Lyvgen, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative immuno-oncology therapeutics, announces that it has entered into a clinical trial collaboration agreement with a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, New Jersey, U.S.A., known as MSD outside of the U.S. and Canada. The collaboration will evaluate Lyvgen’s LVGN6051, a second generation 4-1BB (CD137) agonist antibody, in combination with KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab), MSD’s anti-PD-1 therapy, in a Phase 1 study in adult patients with advanced malignancy including lung cancer, melanoma, gastrointestinal cancer with MSI-high or DMMR, and lymphoma.
“We are very excited about this clinical collaboration with MSD to evaluate the combination of KEYTRUDA with LVGN6051, our innovative 4-1BB (CD137) agonist antibody,” said Jieyi Wang, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Lyvgen. “CD137 signaling provides critical support for CD8+ effector T cells in a manner complementary to the effect of PD-1 blockade. We believe that the combination of LVGN6051 and KEYTRUDA has the potential to improve treatment outcomes for patients with advanced cancer and may broaden the applications of cancer immunotherapy.”
Lyvgen has initiated a Phase I clinical trial (NCT04130542) in October of 2019.
KEYTRUDA® is a registered trademark of Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA.
