The Opening of the 'World's Largest Cancer Conference'... Will K-Anticancer Drugs Show Results?

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2023, the world's largest cancer conference, has officially begun. Companies such as Yuhan Corporation, Abclon, Artiva Biotherapeutics (a GC Cell affiliate), Genexine, and Lunit are participating and are set to reveal various research results, raising expectations about which K-anticancer drugs will return home with successful outcomes.

This year's ASCO 2023 is being held in Chicago, USA, from June 2 to 6 (local time). It is an event where various new drug developers and diagnostic companies related to cancer diseases gather, attracting over 40,000 stakeholders annually. Along with the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), it is considered one of the world's top three cancer conferences and boasts the largest scale among them.

The most anticipated topic is Yuhan Corporation's lung cancer new drug, "Reclaza" (generic name: Lazertinib). It has been licensed out to Janssen (a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary), and clinical trials are underway to develop a first-line combination therapy for non-small cell lung cancer using the bispecific antibody "Rybrevant" (Amivantamab).

At this ASCO, results from the long-term follow-up and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) liquid biopsy study called "CHRYSALIS" will be presented as a poster. According to these results, key indicators for measuring anticancer drug efficacy, such as median progression-free survival (mPFS) and median overall survival (mOS), have not yet been confirmed as the study is ongoing. However, the median duration of treatment was 33.5 months, and 10 out of 20 clinical participants (50%) continued treatment without disease progression. Since this involves a small group and the trial is still in progress, it is too early to judge success or failure, but expectations are rising for the "MARIPOSA" first-line combination clinical trial of Reclaza and Rybrevant, whose results are scheduled to be announced later this year.

Abclon is also attracting significant attention. Their CD19 antibody-targeting chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy "AT101" showed an objective response rate (ORR) of 83.3% in phase 1 clinical trials, with 3 out of 6 patients in the low- and mid-dose groups achieving complete remission (CR) and 2 achieving partial remission (PR). At this ASCO, results including the high-dose group will be additionally disclosed. However, although CD19 CAR-T therapies are highly effective, concerns about side effects and potentially low persistence mean that long-term follow-up results will be necessary for a detailed evaluation.

Artiva, a U.S.-based affiliate of GC Cell, revealed the first human administration data of the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-natural killer (NK) cell therapy "AB-101," which was developed through technology transfer from GC Cell. When AB-101 was administered alone to patients previously treated with CD19 CAR-T therapy, the ORR was 27%. Researcher Seonkyung Lee from IBK Investment & Securities commented, "This confirms the effect of monotherapy in patients with a history of CAR-T treatment. We consider this an encouraging result, and the tolerability is also excellent." However, she also noted that follow-up observation is necessary to confirm the duration of response.

Genexine disclosed an abstract of a phase 2 clinical trial targeting head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) involving a triple combination therapy of the cancer treatment DNA vaccine "GX-188E," the lymphocyte-depleting immuno-oncology agent "GX-I7," and "Keytruda." The trial involved 11 HPV-positive head and neck cancer patients scheduled for surgery. All patients underwent surgery as planned, with no increase in surgical delays or complications. The primary endpoint, major pathological response (MPR), was observed in 63.6% (7 patients), and pathological complete response (pCR) was seen in 36.3% (4 patients), meeting the primary evaluation criteria.

Medical AI company Lunit is presenting an impressive 16 abstracts. This is the highest number among all global medical AI companies participating in ASCO 2023, as well as among domestic companies attending the conference. The presentations include various solo and collaborative studies related to Lunit's AI biomarker "Lunit Scope," such as measuring changes in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in pathological tissues of locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) patients undergoing chemoradiotherapy (CRT).