Penpulimab, an anti-PD1 IgG1 antibody in the treatment of advanced or metastatic upper gastrointestinal cancers

Background The safety and anti-tumor activity of penpulimab in patients with advanced upper gastrointestinal (UGI) cancers were evaluated in this study. Methods Patients with advanced UGI cancers naive to immune checkpoint inhibitors were enrolled in two trials of penpulimab. In the Phase Ia/Ib trial in Australia, patients received penpulimab intravenous infusion of 1, 3 and 10 mg/kg every 2 weeks in dose-escalation phase and 200 mg every 2 weeks in dose-expansion phase. In the phase Ib/II trial conducted in China, patients received 200 mg penpulimab every 2 weeks. Primary endpoints were safety and tolerability for the phase Ia/Ib trial and the objective response rate for the phase Ib/II trial. The safety and efficacy of penpulimab in patients with UGI cancers in these two trials were evaluated. Results A total of 67 patients with UGI cancers from Australia and China were enrolled in these two trials and had received penpulimab with a median of 6 (1-64) doses. 44.8% of patients experienced at least one treatment-related adverse event (TRAE), and 7.5% of patients experienced a grade >= 3 TRAE. Among 60 patients evaluable for response, the confirmed objective response rates ranged between 11.1 and 26.3% across cohorts for pancreatic cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, gastric or Gastroesophageal junction carcinoma (Gastric/GEJ), and hepatocellular carcinoma. 11/13 (85.0%) responders had ongoing responses at data cutoff date. Conclusions Penpulimab monotherapy demonstrated an acceptable safety and encouraged anti-tumor activity in patients with advanced UGI cancers. Further exploration in a large cohort of patients is warranted.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the safety and anti-tumor activity of penpulimab in patients with advanced upper gastrointestinal (UGI) cancers. The results showed that penpulimab monotherapy demonstrated acceptable safety and encouraged anti-tumor activity in these patients, warranting further exploration in a larger cohort of patients.