During the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the company said that as of an April 2021 cutoff date, 89 patients across 13 groups had been treated with a once-weekly intravenous infusion of HPN424. The modest activity and tolerability challenges stymying HPN424 stand in contrast to the encouraging early data that Harpoon reported for its prostate cancer drug prospect last June. Harpoon was developing the drug for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, which means that the cancer has spread and no longer completely responds to treatments that lower the levels of testosterone that help cancer cells grow. HPN424 is designed to go after a prostate cancer protein target called PSMA. The simultaneous binding of a TriTAC drug to a T cell and an antigen is intended to activate the T cell to kill the target cancer cell. The company calls its technology platform Tri-specific T cell Activating Construct, or TriTAC. The biotech’s drugs are engineered proteins with three main components: a part that binds to the T cell, a domain that extends the therapy’s half-life, and a third piece that binds to an antigen on the surface of a cancer cell. Harpoon is developing drugs in a class of therapies called T cell engagers. Harpoon’s stock was trading at around $3.77 mid-day Friday, down more than 30% from Thursday’s closing price. Harpoon’s annual report states that the results for the drug so far showed “modest activity with a tolerability profile that has been challenging.” No additional details about the drug were disclosed, but the company added that it will continue to treat patients who remain in the study through the course of their therapy.
#HARPOON 2019 TRIAL#
In a statement, CEO Julie Eastland said the decision followed an analysis of data, including the clinical trial results to date from a Phase 1/2a dose-escalation study. The South San Francisco biotech announced it would discontinue work on the drug, HPN424, in its report of fourth quarter and full-year 2021 financial results after the market close Thursday.
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