NuCana discontinues colorectal cancer study
NuCana plc (NuCana) will discontinue its NuTide:323 study after a pre-planned initial analysis and recommendation from the NuTide:323 Study Steering Committee deemed that it was “unlikely to achieve the study’s primary objective of superior progression-free survival” compared to other treatments. However, there were prognostic imbalances that favoured the controlling arm. The Committee believed that the combination of NUC-3373 with leucovorin, irinotecan and bevacizumab (NUFIRI+bev) wouldn’t compare to the control arm of 5-FU, leucovorin, irinotecan and bevacizumab (FOLFIRI+bev) in the final analysis stage.
Additionally, treatment regimes were seen to have a favourable safety profile and to be generally well tolerated in all three arms. Only 12 of the 175 patients (four patients in each arm) decided to discontinue treatment due to adverse events.
Hugh S. Griffith, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of NuCana said, “While we are disappointed with this unexpected outcome, especially for people living with colorectal cancer, we gained valuable knowledge from the NuTide:323 study which will inform our ongoing development programs. We are extremely grateful to the study participants, their families, the investigators and the study teams for their participation and efforts. These results highlight the challenges associated with developing new medicines for patients with complex and heterogeneous cancers such as metastatic colorectal cancer. We will leverage insights from these data to identify future potential development options for NUC-3373 in colorectal cancer.”
Professor Josep Tabernero, MD, PhD, Head of the Medical Oncology Department at the Vall d´Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona and Chair of the NuTide:323 Study Steering Committee, added: “In the NuTide:323 study, we were aiming to develop NUC-3373 as a replacement for 5-FU, in combination with leucovorin, irinotecan and bevacizumab in patients with second-line colorectal cancer. The premise of this ambitious goal was based on robust non-clinical and clinical data and the NuTide:323 study team are very disappointed with this outcome.”
Griffith continued: “NuCana remains committed to improving survival outcomes for patients with cancer. The results of the NuTide:323 study do not impact the ongoing NuTide:303 study, in which NUC-3373 is being combined with either pembrolizumab in solid tumours or docetaxel in patients with lung cancer. Furthermore, we are excited about the potential of NUC-7738, a novel agent that profoundly impacts gene expression in cancer cells and targets multiple aspects of the tumour microenvironment. We look forward to sharing the latest data from the Phase 2 part of the NuTide:701 study of NUC-7738 in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with melanoma at the ESMO annual conference in September 2024.”