A funding flashpoint, Pfizer’s $1B poster and AstraZeneca advertising

CHICAGO — Funding cancer research isn’t usually a political flashpoint. But as the Trump administration signals its desire to drastically cut the budget of the National Cancer Institute, the American Society of Clinical Oncology is finding itself forced to defend what is usually a bipartisan policy.

“If implemented, these cuts would be devastating to the pace and progress of cancer research in America,” ASCO CEO Clifford Hudis said in a Friday statement. “ASCO maintains that federally funded cancer research is the single best investment our country has ever made.”

ASCO’s annual meeting this year provides a convincing example. A large study funded by the NCI found that adding the immunotherapy Tecentriq to a common chemotherapy regimen can halve the risk of disease recurrence or death in patients with a certain form of colon cancer. These data, said one of the researchers involved, will change clinical practice.

But they may not have been as easily obtained without the help of the NCI, said Joel Saltzman, vice chair of regional oncology at the Cleveland Clinic’s Taussig Cancer Center, in a press conference held for reporters. “This was a study that took five years to accrue patients to. It was open at 300 sites,” he said. “A study like this would just not have been feasible without the federal funding from the National Cancer Institute.” — Ned Pagliarulo

A $1 billion dollar poster

On Saturday, doctors and biotechnology executives got a closer look at Pfizer’s latest billion-dollar acquisition, a bispecific antibody from China’s 3SBio, code-named SSGJ-707, that blocks the proteins PD-1 and VEGF.

3SBio, which licensed Pfizer’s rights to SSGJ-707 for $1.25 billion upfront, presented mid-stage study data in a poster session that hinted at the drug’s promise in non-small cell lung cancer. The Phase 2 study involved previously untreated people whose tumors express the protein PD-L1.

Treatment shrank tumors in about two-thirds of participants given a dose of 10 milligrams infused every three weeks, with lower response rates at doses of 5, 20 and 30 milligrams. Nearly all patients experienced side effects, notably liver enzyme elevations and increased cholesterol. More than half on the 20 and 30 milligram doses had side effects judged to be “severe or medically significant,” while on lower doses only about 1 in 4 did.

Researchers, led by Lin Wu of Hunan Cancer Hospital in China, wrote that the data “support further evaluation” of the 10 milligram dose. Four trials are listed as underway at clinicaltrials.gov, with a fifth planned.

The 3SBio data came a day after Summit Pharmaceuticals and Akeso released Phase 3 data from their PD-1/VEGF combination treatment, now one of the most closely watched drugs in all of oncology. — Jonathan Gardner

AstraZeneca’s ad blitz

Walk around Chicago this weekend and you’re likely to see an ad for AstraZeneca’s cancer research, often emblazoned on the sides of bus stops. Take an Uber to McCormick Place, the convention center that houses ASCO for five days, and you might be reminded by an ad on the app that it’s been 10 years since the initial approval of Tagrisso, which now ranks among the top 20 most lucrative pharmaceutical products by sales.

All pharma companies advertise at ASCO, of course, but AstraZeneca has a lot of talk about this year. For the seventh year in a row, the maker of Tagrisso, Imfinzi and Enhertu has trial data highlighted in the ASCO plenary session — an occasion AstraZeneca executives are marking with a pin that weaves the number “7” between the “A” and “Z” of their company’s logo.

Data from one such highlighted study indicate that an AstraZeneca drug called camizestrant could be swapped in for so-called aromatase inhibitors as part of an initial treatment regimen for the most common form of advanced breast cancer. Aromatase inhibitors, one AstraZeneca bus stop ad reminds possibly confused Chicagoans, were state of the art in the 1990s. “Then again, so were videotapes,” it adds.

Camizestrant is not yet approved, but AstraZeneca expects it will eventually become a major product. Its importance is reflected in its name: the “cami” root is a nod to the British drugmaker’s Cambridge laboratories, where camizestrant originated. — Ned Pagliarulo

An unexpected gene therapy spotlight

Haydar Frangoul, a pediatric hematologist and oncologist, is used to presenting at medical meetings. But ASCO isn’t the usual forum for Frangoul, who played a major role in testing the CRISPR gene editing treatment Casgevy for sickle cell disease.

“I was shocked they wanted to hear about sickle cell at ASCO,” Frangoul said Saturday, opening a joint session on gene therapy held by ASCO and the American Association of Cancer Research.

Frangoul walked the assembled cancer doctors and researchers through the study that supported Casgevy’s U.S. approval in December 2023. Jimi Olaghere, a patient in that study, described his life before treatment, and how Casgevy has changed it.

Their reflections spotlighted what gene therapy can accomplish, even as the field falters amid waning investor interest, dried-up funding and persistent safety concerns.

It’s an important reminder even in oncology, which is perhaps not as often associated with gene therapy as rare diseases like sickle cell. Kymriah, a CAR-T cell treatment for leukemia, was the first therapy based on gene transfer technology to be cleared by the FDA. Five other CAR-Ts have been approved since, as have several other T cell-based medicines.

More are likely coming, too. The session closed with a presentation from Katy Revzani, head of the MD Anderson Cancer Center’s cell therapy institute, about her hospital’s research exploring NK cell therapy, which she said could be safer and easier to produce off of the shelf. — Ned Pagliarulo

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