NKMAX Announces ASCO Presentation on Superior Efficacy of 'Super NK' + Keytruda Combination in Stage 4 Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Poster of the SuperNK + Bavencio (generic name: Avelumab) combination therapy group accepted at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). / Photo by NKMAX

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] NKMAX disclosed two posters submitted to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), which will be held next month, on the 30th.

The posters cover the Phase 1 clinical trial of refractory solid tumors (sarcoma) conducted by NKMAX's subsidiary NKGen Biotech, detailing the clinical trials of the SuperNK (SNK01) monotherapy group and the SuperNK + Bavencio (generic name: Avelumab) combination therapy group.

The SuperNK monotherapy group results are from cohorts 1 to 3 of the ongoing sarcoma clinical trial in the United States. Among nine patients who were unresponsive to existing treatments, six showed stable disease (SD), meaning the tumor did not grow further, resulting in a disease control rate (DCR) of 66.7%.

According to the poster, patients who had undergone up to nine rounds of existing treatments without any response showed tumor progression halted with NK cell monotherapy, demonstrating safety and efficacy.

The poster for the SuperNK and Bavencio combination therapy group revealed interim results for a total of 17 sarcoma patients in cohort 4. However, data for two patients have not yet been obtained and thus were not included in this poster but will be presented in the final results.

In this poster, the combination therapy results showed one patient with complete response (CR) in the target lesion, one patient with partial response (PR) with tumor reduction of over 30%, and eight patients with stable disease (SD) where the tumor did not grow further. Although CR was confirmed in one patient, due to residual tumors in non-target lesions according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) criteria, the abstract marked it as PR.

This patient, who had cancer spread throughout the body including the lungs, was enrolled in the clinical trial and treated with the combination of SuperNK and Bavencio. As a result, a CR with disappearance of all cancer was observed in August last year. However, during continued observation, a small amount of cancer cells was detected in the lungs, so the company explained that the abstract was submitted as PR for this conference. Additionally, the target lesion sarcoma in this patient was confirmed to have maintained the CR status.

An NKMAX official stated, “Although a small amount of tumor appeared in the non-target lesion (lungs) of the CR-confirmed patient, the target lesion sarcoma maintained the CR status,” adding, “Sarcoma is a highly metastatic malignant tumor, and it is a remarkable result that tumor progression stopped in terminal sarcoma patients unresponsive to existing treatments including immune checkpoint inhibitors. In this clinical trial, the target lesion CR status is being maintained.”

He continued, “This proves the potential of SuperNK as a new treatment method,” emphasizing, “Since the clinical trial is not yet completed, the final data is more anticipated than this interim result.”

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