OncoSec Medical (NSDQ:ONCS) expanded its relationship with Merck (NYSE:MRK) today, announcing a deal to combine its ImmunoPulse IL-12 device with Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, Keytruda, in a Phase II trial of patients with triple negative breast cancer.
The trial is slated to study the drug-device combination in patients with inoperable locally advanced or metastatic cancer who have failed at least one systemic chemotherapy or immunotherapy.
According to the terms of the deal, OncoSec will fund the study and Merck will supply Keytruda. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
“We are pleased to initiate a second clinical trial collaboration with Merck – one of the world’s leading immuno-oncology companies – in late stage TNBC, a disease which has few treatment options,” CEO Daniel O’Connor said in prepared remarks. ” This collaboration is another example of OncoSec’s strategy to work with innovative immuno-oncology leaders, combining our ImmunoPulse IL-12 program with checkpoint inhibitor therapies to advance the care of patients.”
OncoSec’s electroporation device delivers a sequence of short-duration electrical pulses to increase the cancer cell membrane’s permeability and more efficiently deliver cancer-killing drugs.
In May last year, OncoSec announced its first clinical trial deal with Merck – the company is evaluating the drug-device therapy in patients with metastatic melanoma.
