NETRIS Pharma Doses First Patient in Pancreatic Cancer Clinical Study with NP137

Lap-NET1 study will evaluate safety and efficacy of anti-netrin-1 antibody NP137 in combination with m_FOLFIRINOX as first-line treatment in patients with locally advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

March 29th, 2023

LYON, France —NETRIS Pharma, a clinical-stage private biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of drugs based on dependence receptor biology, today announced dosing of the first patients in a multicenter, prospective, single arm, proof-of-concept trial of the anti-netrin-1 antibody, NP137, in combination with mFOLFIRINOX as a first-line treatment in patients with locally advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Called Lap-NET1 (NCT05546853), the study will enroll 43 to 52 patients and consists of two parts: a safety lead-in phase, with 3-12 patients, and an expansion phase of 40 patients, where efficacy endpoints, including best overall objective response rate (ORR), will be measured.

“The start of the Lap-NET1 trial is a new important clinical milestone for NETRIS Pharma, and our fourth clinical trial currently recruiting. Pancreatic cancer is very complex to treat. However, in close collaboration with US colleagues, we demonstrated that netrin-1 is a key regulator of pancreatic cancer progression. Our lead drug candidate, NP137, which targets netrin-1, is effective in controlling disease progression in a variety of preclinical models.  When combined with chemotherapies, NP137 has also been shown to alleviate the cancer’s resistance to these conventional treatments. Thus, there is a strong interest to investigate the potential of combining NP137 with mFOLFIRINOX, currently used as a first-line treatment for pancreatic cancers,” said Patrick Mehlen, CEO of NETRIS Pharma.

LapNET-1 is an investigator-initiated trial led by Gael Roth from Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Grenoble Alpes (CHUGA), with participation of 10 other clinical centers, part of the PRODIGE Group.

“Although pancreatic cancer patient care is improving, primarily given the earlier detection or tumors, and the benefit of mFOLFIRINOX as standard of care in Western Europe, this difficult to treat disease is on the rise, with incidence prediction studies suggesting that it will eventually represent the 2nd leading cause of cancer-related death in Western countries,” said Dr. Roth clinical oncologist at CHUGA and Principal Investigator of LapNET-1. “I look forward to lead this clinical trial, given the strong scientific rationale of combining NP137 with mFOLFIRINOX.”

About NETRIS Pharma

NETRIS Pharma, a clinical-stage company, designs and develops anti-cancer therapeutic molecules, particularly monoclonal antibodies, to block the interaction between dependence receptors and their ligands. NETRIS Pharma, based in Lyon, is the world most advanced biopharmaceutical company targeting netrin-1.

Further information can be found at: https://www.netrispharma.com.

About NP137

NP137 is a humanized monoclonal antibody of isotype IgG1 directed against netrin-1. Most types of tumors produce an abnormal amount of dependence receptors’ ligands, which prevents cells from apoptosis. Netrin-1 is overexpressed in a large percentage of human cancers including in 60% of pancreatic cancer cases. Expression of netrin-1 often correlates with disease severity and no therapy has ever been tested against this new pathway. Preclinical studies show NP137 to have an anti-cancer effect as a monotherapy as well as synergistic effects in combination with chemotherapy or immune checkpoint inhibitors. Further to the confirmation of the excellent safety profile in human, NETRIS Pharma is currently actively recruiting in three other clinical trials: GYNET trial (NCT04652076), IMMUNONET (NCT05605496) and Liver-NET1 (NCT05546879). Lap-NET1 is disclosed on clinicaltrials.gov under - NCT05546853.

About Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Grenoble Alpes

Grenoble Alpes University Hospital (CHUGA) is one of the best French University Hospitals, and ranks 11th in terms of medical activity. Its close relationship with Grenoble Alpes University Research laboratories enables the CHUGA to guarantee access to the latest medical innovations and clinical research improvement. CHUGA also ranks 12th in France for its research activity while Grenoble Alpes University belongs to the top 7 French universities, according to global rankings. CHUGA counts 1800 beds and accommodations a with 11500 professionals providing every medical and surgical specialties at high level of excellence.

Further information can be found at www.chu-grenoble.fr