CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Merrimack
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that five patients have
received therapy in a Phase I clinical study combining MM-111 with
multiple standard treatment regimens for patients with advanced
HER2 positive (HER2+) solid tumors.
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MM-111 is a bi-specific antibody that targets tumor cells
over-expressing ErbB2/HER2. MM-111 is designed to inhibit the
signaling between ErbB2/HER2 and ErbB3/HER3 thus disabling
downstream signaling, including the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase
(PI3K) pathway, and preventing tumor proliferation. In this study,
Merrimack is evaluating whether MM-111 could be safely added to
standard therapies used to treat HER2 positive cancers. The study
could also provide preliminary evidence of activity in patients
with advanced/metastatic HER2 positive disease, an area of high
unmet medical need for which there are limited treatment
options.
“HER2 positive cancers are historically more aggressive and
carry a poorer prognosis than other types of solid tumors,” says
Clet Niyikiza, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of Development,
Merrimack Pharmaceuticals. “Patients with HER2 positive metastatic
cancer eventually progress or are intolerant of current approved
regimens. Close to half of the patients treated with such regimens
fail to respond.”
The Phase 1 study will evaluate the human safety and
pharmacokinetics of MM-111 when administered in combination with
either 1) cisplatin, capecitabine, and trastuzumab; 2) lapatinib
and trastuzumab; or 3) paclitaxel and trastuzumab in patients with
HER2 positive solid tumors. The study is being run in collaboration
with US Oncology, a leading integrated oncology company that is
affiliated with more than 1,400 physicians nationwide.
“Because ErbB3 activation has been indicated as a cause of
resistance to current HER2 targeted treatments and chemotherapies,
we pl
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