Genome & Co. to work with MSD for combo drug of GEN-001, Keytruda

Genome and Company said it has entered a clinical collaboration agreement with MSD to develop biliary tract cancer treatment using a combination therapy of GEN-001 and Keytruda.

Under the clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement, Genome and Company will conduct a phase 2 clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of its immunotherapy, GEN-001, in combination with MSD's Keytruda, an anti-PD-1 therapy, for patients with biliary tract cancer.

Genome and Company will sponsor the clinical trial, and MSD will supply Keytruda.

"Genome and Company has established clinical trial collaborations to evaluate GEN-001 with both anti-PD-L1 and anti-PD-1 therapies through agreements with MSD, Merck KGaA, and Pfizer, which shows that the company is receiving recognition for its innovative technology by multinational pharmaceutical companies." Genome and Company CEO Pae Ji-soo said.

Through this clinical trial collaboration, the company looks forward to evaluating the potential additive benefit of GEN-001 in combination with Keytruda as a treatment for patients with biliary tract cancer, Pae added.

GEN-001 is an orally administered immunotherapy microbiome therapeutic candidate with Lactococcus lactis, a single live bacterial strain isolated from a healthy human.

Biliary tract cancer is one of the carcinomas associated with a poor prognosis after diagnosis, with limited treatment options and a five-year survival rate of only 5 to 15 percent.

The MDPI Cancers 2021, an SCI academic journal, observed the infiltrations of immune cells around cancer cells in 70 percent of biliary tract cancer patients, confirming the relationship between the immune cells and biliary tract cancer cells.