Tustin-based drug developer Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. is expanding its relationship with British drugmaker AstraZeneca PLC.
Peregrine is developing drugs that stimulate the body’s immune system to fight cancer.
It said this month that an ongoing cancer immunotherapy clinical collaboration with AstraZeneca will now include a second later-stage clinical trial.
AstraZeneca and Peregrine also plan to evaluate the latter’s lead product, bavituximab, in combination with AstraZeneca’s durvalumab in a global second-phase trial looking at patients who have previously been treated for nonsmall-cell lung cancer. Peregrine will be in charge of that trial.
The companies said the new study is building on a nonexclusive collaboration they started in August. That pairing came about to conduct a phase I/Ib basket clinical trial to look at bavituximab and durvalumab used in concert with chemotherapy in fighting multiple solid tumors.
Basket clinical trials differ from traditional ones in that they test drugs that target a specific genetic mutation found in the tumor, regardless of where the cancer originated.
“In the short period of time that we have been working with AstraZeneca, we have been very impressed with the company’s commitment to innovative translational efforts that will help us better understand the dynamics of tumor immunity and clinical response to durvalumab and bavituximab combination in a range of cancers,” Joseph Shan, Peregrine’s vice president of clinical and regulatory affairs, said in a news release.
Peregrine’s expanded relationship with AstraZeneca “will allow us to run a much more cost-effective and time-efficient trial than would have been possible under our previously planned study using [Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s] Opdivo as the combination drug in the same lung cancer population,” he said.
Allergan’s Study Results
Dublin, Ireland-based Allergan PLC, whose Botox hub is in Irvine, recently presented results from a 3 ½-year extension study showing that long-term treatment with the drug’s therapeutic form consistently decreased urinary incontinence in women with overactive bladders who didn’t respond to traditional drug therapies.
The Food and Drug Administration in 2013 approved Botox for treating adults who inadequately respond to or can’t tolerate traditional anticholinergic drugs.
Allergan said the study involved 749 women with overactive bladders who had completed one of two 24-week third-phase clinical trials. The women received multiple treatments of Botox during the study.
Results were presented at the American Urogynecologic Society’s annual meeting this month in Seattle.
Study Validates More Tests
Irvine-based CombiMatrix Corp. said new data from an unpublished clinical study showed what it called the “value of follow-up diagnostic testing to confirm or rule out positive results” from noninvasive testing designed to detect common fetal chromosomal abnormalities.
CombiMatrix is a molecular diagnostic company that specializes in DNA-based services for prenatal, postnatal and predonor embryo genetic testing.
Dr. Trilochan Sahoo, CombiMatrix’ vice president of clinical affairs, conducted the study.
The company said the study data suggests “that a comprehensive approach in these situations benefits the patient and that clinical decisions should not be undertaken based purely on [noninvasive prenatal testing] results.”
CombiMatrix shared the data this month at the American Society of Human Genetics conference in Baltimore.
Bits & Pieces
Tustin-based Uptake Medical Corp. presented study results at the European Respiratory Society’s annual meeting in Amsterdam showing that patients treated with its InterVapor device “experienced statistically and clinically meaningful benefits in both lung function and quality of life.” … Juliana Wortman, a graduate student at the University of California-Irvine, received a grant from the Cary, N.C.-based V Foundation for Cancer Research. Her research will cover quantitative characterization of the tumor microenvironment in breast cancer. … Anaheim-based ClearFlow Inc. exhibited its PleuraFlow device at the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery’s annual meeting in Amsterdam. PleuraFlow is used to keep chest drainage tubes clear of blood clots after heart surgery. … Irvine-based NuGene International Inc. raised $500,000 in debt financing, according to a regulatory filing. NuGene, which trades on the over-the-counter bulletin board exchange, makes antiaging skincare products. … Tustin-based DeviceLab Inc. exhibited and presented a lecture at the DevCon Renesas Developers conference this month. DeviceLab is a contract medical device development and product design firm.
