Immunocore touts first solid tumour survival benefit

The next question for Immunocore is whether yesterday’s promising data with its soluble T-cell receptor project tebentafusp will allow the company to float at a decent valuation. The company claims its pivotal trial win in uveal melanoma represents the first survival benefit for any TCR therapeutic or any bispecific in a solid tumour. The IMCgp100-202 trial, which compared tebentafusp against investigator’s choice in metastatic disease, met its primary endpoint of overall survival – although the data are not yet mature, estimated one-year OS was 73% with tebentafusp versus 58% for investigator’s choice, which included Keytruda, Yervoy and dacarbazine chemo. Checkpoint inhibitors are not usually effective in this rare and agressive form of eye cancer; the median survival after metastasis is around a year. Tebentafusp comprises a soluble TCR targeting gp100, the idea being that it recruits a patient’s T cells to the cancerous cells. Immunocore’s sister company Adaptimmune is taking a more typical TCR approach, as an adoptive cell therapy, and reported phase I data last week with its Mage A4-targeting project ADP-A2M4 in synovial sarcoma.