Nanobiotix to cooperate with academia to evaluate use of NBTXR3 with Nivolumab for lung cancer
Late clinical-stage nanomedicine company, Nanobiotix, has announced its cooperation with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to run immunotherapeutic pre-clinical research combining NBTXR3 — the company’s lead product — with Nivolumab.
Dr Elsa Borghi, CMO of Nanobiotix, said: “The main objective of this collaboration is to analyse the micro environment of the tumours treated with NBTXR3 activated by radiotherapy, in order to increase and optimize the immune response.”
The project, which will be led by Dr Hames Welsh, associate professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, will take place over the course of two years. It will evaluate the use of NBTXR3 activated by radiotherapy plus anti-PD1 Nivolumab (murine version of Opdivo) — provided by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) — in lung cancer models both in vivo and in vitro.
The joint program will focus on 3 aims, leading to the maximization of NBTXR3 potential benefits in triggering an immune response:
- Evaluate the abscopal response through the combination of NBTXR3 plus an anti-PD1 antibody and radiation therapy in specific and resistant murine lung cancer models, in order to measure NBTXR3's potential to control metastatic disease.
- Evaluate if NBTXR3 can further improve T cell activation for standard radiotherapy fractions compared to SBRT, notably by determining the STING activation in vitro in cancer cells with and without NBTXR3.
- Continue the characterization of the different mechanisms and types of cell death induced by NBTXR3 activated by radiation.
Additionally, the joint programme will further explore the potential future use of NBTXR3 in immune-oncology with checkpoint inhibitors, as well as its potential to control metastatic disease.
NBTXR3 is a first-in-class product designed to destroy, when activated by radiotherapy, tumours and metastasis through physical cell death and to immunogenic cell death leading to specific activation of the immune system.
Late last year the company received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its investigational new drug (IND) application and should launch its first clinical trial combining NBTXR3 with immune checkpoint inhibitors in the US during the second quarter of this year (2018).