Stockholm, Sweden — Medivir AB (Nasdaq Stockholm: MVIR), a pharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative treatments for cancer in areas of high unmet medical need, today announces that an abstract about its lead program fostroxacitabine bralpamide (fostrox) and the potential efficacy in primary liver cancer has been accepted for presentation at the at the SITC 37th Annual Meeting, held November 10-12, 2022, in Boston, USA.
The abstract, titled “Fostrox (MIV-818) in combination with anti-PD-1 shows increased efficacy in nonclinical tumour models in vivo” will be presented at the conference by Fredrik Öberg, CSO at Medivir. The presentation includes study results outlining the potential for enhanced anti-tumour effects when an anti-PD1 antibody is combined with fostrox.
- “Fostrox induces DNA damage and tumour cell death, potentially leading to increased tumour antigen presentation and an increased immune response, generating potential for combining with a checkpoint inhibitor like anti-PD-1. Our results confirm that fostrox has the potential to be combined with anti-PD-1 antibodies for improved efficacy in patients with primary liver cancer,” says Fredrik Öberg.
- “Primary liver cancer is a disease with significant unmet need and combining treatments with different and additive mechanisms of action will be critical to improve outcomes for patients. Fostrox has a unique, liver targeted approach and these results further support our belief that it has a strong potential for attractive combinations”, says Jens Lindberg, CEO at Medivir AB.
The abstract and the poster will be available on Medivir’s website after the presentation.
For additional information, please contact
Magnus Christensen, CFO
Telephone: +46 8 5468 3100
E-mail: magnus.christensen@medivir.com
About fostrox
Fostroxis a pro-drug designed to selectively treat liver cancers and to minimize side effects. It has the potential to become the first liver-targeted and orally administered drug for patients with HCC and other forms of liver cancer. Fostrox has completed a phase 1b monotherapy study, and a combination study in HCC currently ongoing.
About primary liver cancer
Primary liver cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common cancer that arises in the liver. Although existing therapies for advanced HCC can extend the lives of patients, treatment benefits are insufficient and death rates remain high. There are 42,000 patients diagnosed with primary liver cancer per year in the US and current five-year survival is 11 percent. HCC is a heterogeneous disease with diverse etiologies, and lacks defining mutations observed in many other cancers. This has contributed to the lack of success of molecularly targeted agents in HCC. The limited overall benefit, taken together with the poor overall prognosis for patients with intermediate and advanced HCC, results in a large unmet medical need.
About Medivir
Medivir develops innovative drugs with a focus on cancer where the unmet medical needs are high. The drug candidates are directed toward indication areas where available therapies are limited or missing and there are great opportunities to offer significant improvements to patients. Medivir is focusing on the development of fostroxacitabine bralpamide (fostrox), a pro-drug designed to selectively treat liver cancer cells and to minimize side effects. Collaborations and partnerships are important parts of Medivir’s business model, and the drug development is conducted either by Medivir or in partnership. Birinapant, a SMAC mimetic, is exclusively outlicensed to IGM Biosciences (Nasdaq: IGMS) to be developed in combination with IGM-antibodies for the treatment of solid tumors. Medivir’s share (ticker: MVIR) is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm’s Small Cap list. www.medivir.com.