LAVA Therapeutics leaps on news of deal with Merck

26 January 2024

Shares of Dutch biotech LAVA Therapeutics (Nasdaq: LVTX) shot up 43% to $2.23 by close of trading on Thursday, after it revealed a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with US pharma giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK).

The companies will evaluate the latter’s mega-bockbusteranti-PD-1 therapy Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in combination with LAVA-1207, a Gammabody designed to target the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) to trigger the potent and preferential killing of PSMA-positive tumor cells, in patients with therapy refractory metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

Merck will provide pembrolizumab for the dose escalation and expansion phases of Lava’s ongoing Phase I/IIa study of LAVA-1207, with the combination arm expected to be initiated in the first half of 2024. Enrollment and dose escalation will also continue in the LAVA-1207 monotherapy and interleukin-2 arms of the study.

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