Afert announcing to have sold drug Onivyde to Ipsen, as part of the Company’s strategic shift toward research and development, Merrimack will focus on developing innovative and promising anti-cancer agents through clinical proof-of-concept (PoC). Going forward Merrimack is dedicated to accelerating the time to clinically meaningful data in precisely defined patient populations, while optimizing the use of available resources. The Merrimack Board determined that MM-121, MM-141 and MM-310 represent the best opportunities to optimize and extract value for stockholders and cancer patients worldwide:
- MM-121 (seribantumab) is a first in class fully human monoclonal antibody that binds to the HER3 receptor and targets HRG+ cancers. Merrimack is currently conducting the SHERLOC study, evaluating MM-121 in HRG+ non-small cell lung cancer patients in combination with docetaxel or pemetrexed. The primary endpoint of the ongoing SHERLOC study is overall survival and it is planned to enroll 280 patients. Given the new strategic direction of Merrimack to develop its pipeline candidates through PoC, Merrimack will modify the ongoing SHERLOC study to a smaller Phase 2 study with progression free survival as the primary endpoint, targeting top-line results by year-end 2018. Likewise, following completion of the transaction, Merrimack intends to initiate an additional Phase 2 trial to demonstrate MM-121’s effectiveness in advanced HER2 negative, ER+/PR+ and HRG+ breast cancer.
- MM-141 (istiratumab) is a bispecific tetravalent antibody and a potent inhibitor of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway by targeting IGF1-R and HER3. Currently, Merrimack is conducting the CARRIE study, a Phase 2 trial evaluating MM-141 in metastatic pancreatic cancer patients with high levels of free IGF1 in combination with nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine in the front-line setting. The ongoing CARRIE study planned to enroll 140 patients and to evaluate the activity of MM-141 in both the free IGF high and the free IGF1 high and HRG+ patient population. Given that the prevalence of both biomarkers is greater than 50%, the Company is confident that it can modify the ongoing CARRIE study to more rapidly obtain clinically meaningful data. This modified CARRIE study will target to enroll 80 patients and Merrimack estimates top-line data to be reported in the first half of 2018.
- MM-310 is expected to begin a first in human Phase 1 study to evaluate its safety and efficacy in the first quarter of 2017. MM-310 is an antibody directed nanotherapeutic (ADN) that contains a prodrug of docetaxel and targets the EphA2 receptor, which is highly-expressed in most solid tumor types. MM-310 was designed to improve the therapeutic window of docetaxel in major indications such as prostate, ovarian, bladder, gastric and lung cancers. MM-310 utilizes the same proprietary nano-liposomal technology as ONIVYDE, facilitating the antibody-targeted delivery of the chemotherapeutic agent docetaxel.
With the demonstration of clinical value, Merrimack will seek partners at the appropriate time to complete the development, registration and commercialization of MM-121, MM-141 and MM-310.
