Elevation Oncology is ditching its sole clinical-stage asset in the wake of disappointing phase 1 data, leading the antibody-drug conjugate company to lay off 70% of its staff.
The biotech had been developing the Claudin 18.2 ADC, dubbed EO-3021, as a potential treatment for advanced, unresectable or metastatic gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancers. But data from a phase 1 trial of 36 evaluable patients with these cancers showed an objective response rate of just 22.2%, Elevation said in a March 20 release.
Despite an analysis of all 85 enrolled patients showing the drug was safe and well tolerated, the company is halting work on EO-3021.
“We are deeply disappointed by these results from our phase 1 trial,” Elevation’s CEO Joseph Ferra said in the release. “Despite continuing to demonstrate differentiated safety as a more combinable ADC, updated efficacy data suggest that treatment with EO-3021 does not meet our bar for success and is insufficient to provide patients a competitive benefit-risk profile compared to other Claudin 18.2 ADCs in development.”
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The company will instead turn its attention to an HER3 ADC called EO-1022, which Elevation unveiled in December. EO-1022 uses Synaffix’s glycan site-specific conjugation and linker-payload tech, which Elevation licensed as part of $368 million deal.
Elevation hopes EO-1022 will be able to address “significant and emerging unmet needs in many HER3-expressing cancers,” said Ferra, who expects to present preclinical data at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting next month.
However, the body blow of dropping the company’s sole clinical-stage drug means Elevation is now forced to “evaluate strategic options for the company.” This involves laying off 70% of its workforce, including Chief Medical Officer Valerie Malyvanh Jansen, M.D., Ph.D., who will step down at the end of the month.
The restructuring should stretch out the $93.2 million that Elevation entered 2024 with into the second half of 2026.