ALX Oncology's Evorpacept Receives FDA Orphan Drug Designation For Gastric Cancer Treatment

(RTTNews) - ALX Oncology Holdings Inc. (ALXO) said that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted orphan drug designation to evorpacept, a next-generation CD47 blocker, for the treatment of patients with gastric cancer and gastroesophageal junction cancer.

Gastric cancer begins in the cells lining the inner wall of the stomach and spreads through the outer layers and eventually the body as it grows.

In ASPEN-01, patients with >2L HER2 positive gastric cancer and gastroesophageal junction cancer (n=18) treated with evorpacept in combination with trastuzumab plus ramucirumab and paclitaxel demonstrated an initial objective response rate of 72.2% with a median duration of response of 14.8 months and a median overall survival of 17.1 months.

The results compare favorably with the clinical experience with both ramucirumab plus paclitaxel and trastuzumab-deruxtecan in similar populations.