Monalizumab data from NeoCOAST-2 Phase 2 study in early-stage NSCLC presented at the WCLC 2024

Innate Pharma SA (Euronext Paris: IPH; Nasdaq: IPHA) (“Innate” or the “Company”) today announced that AstraZeneca (LSE/STO/Nasdaq: AZN) presented interim results from the randomized NeoCOAST-2 (NCT05061550) Phase 2 platform study during the 2024 World Conference on Lung Cancer on September 8, 2024.

The NeoCOAST-2 platform study is intended to assess the safety and efficacy of neoadjuvant durvalumab alone or combined with novel agents and chemotherapy in resectable, early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), followed by adjuvant treatment with durvalumab with or without the novel agents. The preliminary data of three arms were presented at WCLC, namely:

• Arm 1: oleclumab in combination with durvalumab and platinum doublet chemotherapy in the neoadjuvant setting and durvalumab plus oleclumab in the adjuvant setting;
• Arm 2: monalizumab in combination with durvalumab and platinum doublet chemotherapy in the neoadjuvant setting and durvalumab plus monalizumab in the adjuvant setting and;
• Arm 4:  datopotamab deruxtecan in combination with durvalumab and single agent platinum chemotherapy in the neoadjuvant setting, and durvalumab alone in the adjuvant setting.

In this preliminary analysis on the first 60 of 72 patients randomized to Arm 2, monalizumab added to durvalumab plus platinum-based chemotherapy doublet induced a pathological complete response rate of 26.7% [95% CI; 16.1–39.7] and a major pathological response rate of 53.3% [95% CI; 40.0–66.3] which are numerically higher than the durvalumab plus platinum doublet approved regimen. Treatment in Arm 2 showed manageable safety profile and no impact on surgical rate.

The presentation will be available on Innate’s website, in the publications section.

“We’re pleased to see the preliminary results from the NeoCOAST-2 Phase 2 trial presented at WCLC and the encouraging clinical outcomes for patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer across all treatment arms,” said Dr Sonia Quaratino, Chief Medical Officer of Innate Pharma. “Monalizumab is the first checkpoint inhibitor targeting the inhibitory receptor NKG2A on NK cells and CD8 T cells. Based on these preliminary results, we remain excited about the potential of extending the clinical benefit of durvalumab in the neoadjuvant/adjuvant setting with the addition of monalizumab in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. We look forward to the final analysis and the translation of these preliminary data to Event Free Survival (EFS) data in due course.”  

About NSCLC:

In 2022, an estimated 2.5 million people were diagnosed with lung cancer worldwide¹. Lung cancer is broadly split into NSCLC and small cell lung cancer, with 80-85% classified as NSCLC^2,3,4 Stage III NSCLC represents approximately one quarter of NSCLC incidence⁵.
Stage III (locally advanced) NSCLC is commonly divided into three subcategories (IIIA, IIIB and IIIC), defined by how much the cancer has spread locally.

About Monalizumab

Monalizumab is a potentially first-in-class immune checkpoint inhibitor targeting NKG2A receptors expressed on tumor infiltrating cytotoxic CD8+ T cells and NK cells.

NKG2A is an inhibitory checkpoint receptor for HLA-E. By expressing HLA-E, cancer cells can protect themselves from killing by NKG2A+ immune cells. HLA-E is frequently overexpressed in the cancer cells of many solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Monalizumab may reestablish a broad anti-tumor response mediated by NK and T cells and may enhance the cytotoxic potential of other therapeutic antibodies⁶.

AstraZeneca obtained full oncology rights to monalizumab in October 2018 through a co-development and commercialization agreement initiated in 2015. The ongoing development for monalizumab is focused on investigating monalizumab in various combination strategies in NSCLC and other malignancies.

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2 Provencio M, et al. Inoperable Stage III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Current Treatment and Role Of Vinorelbine. J Thorac Dis. 2011;3:197-204
3 Cheema PK, et al. Perspectives on Treatment Advances for Stage III Locally Advanced Unresectable Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer. Curr Oncol. 2019;26(1):37–42.
4 LUNGevity Foundation. Types of Lung Cancer. Available at  https://lungevity.org/for-patients-caregivers/lung-cancer-101/types-of-lung-cancer. Accessed September 2021.
5 EpiCast Report: NSCLC Epidemiology Forecast to 2025. GlobalData. 2016.
6 André et al, Cell 2018}