7 July 2020 - - The US Food and Drug Administration has lifted the partial clinical hold on the pivotal Phase 2 clinical trial of camidanlumab tesirine (Cami, formerly ADCT-301) in patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma, Switzerland--based oncology-focused biotechnology company ADC Therapeutics SA (NYSE: ADCT) said.

The 100-patient Phase 2, multi-center, open-label, single-arm clinical trial is evaluating the safety and efficacy of Cami in patients with relapsed or refractory HL.

Patients with pathologically confirmed relapsed or refractory HL who have failed three prior lines of therapy, including brentuximab vedotin and a checkpoint inhibitor approved for HL such as nivolumab or pembrolizumab, are eligible for enrollment in the clinical trial.

The trial is intended to support the submission of a Biologics License Application to the FDA.

Camidanlumab tesirine (Cami, formerly ADCT-301) is an antibody drug conjugate comprised of a monoclonal antibody that binds to CD25 (HuMax-TAC, licensed from Genmab A/S), conjugated to the pyrrolobenzodiazepine dimer payload, tesirine.

Once bound to a CD25-expressing cell, ADCT-301 is internalized into the cell where enzymes release the PBD-based warhead killing the cell with an immunogenic cell death.

The intra-tumoral release of its PBD warhead may also cause bystander killing of neighboring tumor cells. The ADC also depletes CD25-positive regulatory T cells in the tumor environment.

All of these properties of Cami may enhance immune-mediated anti-tumor activity.

Cami is being evaluated in a pivotal Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma, as well as in a Phase 1a/1b clinical trial in patients with relapsed or refractory HL and non-Hodgkin lymphoma and a Phase 1b clinical trial in solid tumors.

ADC Therapeutics SA (NYSE: ADCT) is a late clinical-stage oncology-focused biotechnology company pioneering the development and commercialization of highly potent and targeted antibody drug conjugates for patients with hematological malignancies and solid tumors.

The company develops ADCs by applying its decades of experience in this field and using next-generation pyrrolobenzodiazepine technology to which ADC Therapeutics has proprietary rights for its targets.

Strategic target selection for PBD-based ADCs and substantial investment in early clinical development have enabled ADC Therapeutics to build a deep clinical and research pipeline of therapies for the treatment of hematological and solid tumor cancers.

The company has multiple PBD-based ADCs in ongoing clinical trials, ranging from first in human to pivotal Phase 2 clinical trials, in the USA and Europe, and numerous preclinical ADCs in development.

Loncastuximab tesirine (Lonca, formerly ADCT-402), the company's lead product candidate, has been evaluated in a 145-patient pivotal Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) that showed a 48.3% interim overall response rate, which exceeded the target primary endpoint.

Camidanlumab tesirine (Cami, formerly ADCT-301), the company's second lead product candidate, is being evaluated in a 100-patient pivotal Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma after having shown an 86.5% ORR in HL patients in a Phase 1 clinical trial.

The company is also evaluating Cami as a novel immuno-oncology approach for the treatment of various advanced solid tumors.

ADC Therapeutics is based in Lausanne (Biopôle), Switzerland and has operations in London, the San Francisco Bay Area and New Jersey.