EQRx releases positive Phase III trial data on sugemalimab

USA-based biotech EQRx (Nasdaq: EQRX) on Sunday announced a late-breaking oral presentation of updated data from the Phase III GEMSTONE-301 trial of sugemalimab in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 2022 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC), taking place August 6 through August 9, 2022.

EQRx launched in January 2020, claiming that it will create patent-protected medicines at dramatically lower prices for people, healthcare systems and society by re-engineering the process from drug discovery to patient delivery.

“In the updated results from GEMSTONE-301, sugemalimab demonstrated a sustained progression-free survival benefit, underscoring its potential as consolidation therapy for people with locally advanced, unresectable Stage III non-small cell lung cancer,” said Dr Vince Miller, physician-in-chief at EQRx. “The inclusion of patients who had received sequential chemoradiotherapy in this trial is of particular importance as patients often cannot tolerate concurrent chemoradiotherapy or cannot access it due to a variety of factors. There is currently no immune checkpoint inhibitor approved as a consolidation option for these patients, estimated to represent as many as 25% of people with unresectable Stage III non-small cell lung cancer in the USA,” he noted.