Korean biotech companies are gearing up to promote their latest anticancer pipelines at the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology conference (ASCO 2022), which starts this week.

ASCO 2022, the world’s largest annual cancer meet, will be in Chicago from June 3-7. Every year, mover than 40,000 scientists and healthcare industry officials attend the event to update the latest development in cancer treatments and release clinical results.

The competition among Korean companies to attend the conference this year was particularly fierce because they would have a chance to present oncology pipelines more actively this year. The focus was more on Covid-19-related vaccines and treatments due to the pandemic in the last two years.

ASCO 2022 will be held in person, making it more attractive for Korean biotech companies that seek to ink partnerships with multinational drugmakers.

MedPacto will disclose interim data from a phase 1b study of the combination of vactosertib and FOLFOX, a chemotherapy regimen, in pancreatic cancer. The Kosdaq-listed company said the administration of the vactosertib 50-200mg twice a day plus FOLFOX in 16 pancreatic cancer patients showed much improvement in efficacy with similar safety profiles demonstrated in conventional therapy.

According to the study's abstract, 13 patients who received vactosertib 200mg twice a day showed an objective response rate (ORR) of 23.1 percent, and their median progression-free survival (mPFS) was 5.6 months. The ORR of the second-line FOLFOX in patients who failed gemcitabine was 0 percent, and the mPFS was 1.7 months.

“The latest clinical data confirmed the therapeutic effect of vactosertib plus FOLFOX in pancreatic cancer patients,” an official at MedPacto said. “Our anticipation for commercialization of vactosertib combination therapy is increasing.”

Lunit, a medical AI solution developer, is to present 11 abstracts, the largest number in the company’s history.

Research outcomes about Lunit SCOPE, an AI-based tissue analysis platform, will be noticeable because the platform proved the potential to help discover biomarkers for various cancer treatments, Lunit said.

Lunit conducted the study with Stanford University School of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, and Seoul National University (SNU) Bundang Hospital to analyze data from over 1,800 patients with 16 types of cancer.

Suh Beom-seok, CEO of Lunit, said as the AI biomarker Lunit SCOPE showed the possibility of helping to treat various cancer patients, the company would do its best to commercialize the product within this year can be used widely in clinical care.

Y-Biologics will also unveil new interim results of YBL-006, the first Korean-made anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1) antibody. The announcement will come eight months after the company released the first interim outcome at the European Society of Medical Oncology meeting in September last year.

Y-Biologics confirmed stability, pharmacokinetics (PK), and ORR in the phase 1 dose-escalation and dose-expansion cohorts. The company evaluated efficacy in 52 of 67 patients with solid cancer, and the biomarker-based ORR was 62.5 percent. In addition, the company did not find any dose-limiting toxicity (DLT).

HLB will present the results of phase 2 clinical trials of the first-line rivoceranib, an oral anticancer drug, to treat adenoid cystic cancer, conducted in the U.S. and Korea. The study evaluated the ORR, duration of response (DOR), and PFS after daily administration of rivoceranib 700 mg without setting a control group.

CANARIABIO will update the results of the phase 2 trial and the progress of the global phase 3 study of oregovomab, an ovarian cancer immunotherapy candidate, with the presentation of Sunil Gupta, the chief medical officer (CMO), on Saturday this week.

According to CANARIABIO, the global phase 3 study of oregovomab is ongoing at 130 clinical sites in 14 countries, including 67 sites in the U.S. and Europe, South America, and Asia.

In Korea, SNUH, SNU Bundang Hospital, Severance Hospital, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, Korea University Anam Hospital, Asan Medical Center, and the National Center Center participate in the global phase 3 study.

CANARIOBIO aims to enroll 602 patients in the global phase 3 study. As of May, it recruited 270 patients.

NeoImmuneTech is to have poster presentations on NT-I7 (efineptakin alfa), its combination with an immune checkpoint inhibitor, and a combo with CAR-T therapy.

ASCO selected the interim result of the combo of NT-I7 and immunotherapy Keytruda in the phase 2a NIT-110 study for the poster discussion session. There, the company will unveil the outcome of phase 1b NIT-106 study of the combo of NT-I7 and Tecentriq for the first time.

ABION said it would release the outcome of the phase 1 study of ABN401 to treat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The company received the clinical study report (CSR) on May 17. ABN401 is a solid cancer treatment candidate targeting hepatocyte growth factor receptor (c-MET).