Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Merck Enter Clinical Collaboration

Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company developing enzyme-based therapeutics to treat rare genetic diseases and cancer, has entered into a clinical collaboration agreement with Merck to evaluate the combination of Aeglea’s AEB1102 (pegzilarginase) with Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab), for the treatment of patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

"Earlier this year, we selected SCLC as one of the single agent expansion arms for our ongoing Phase I trial based on preclinical and biomarker data indicating that SCLC may be responsive to arginine depletion with pegzilarginase. In addition, our preclinical data demonstrated a synergistic effect of pegzilarginase in combination with checkpoint inhibitors," said James Wooldridge, M.D., chief medical officer of Aeglea. "Given the emerging relevance of checkpoint inhibitors, such as KEYTRUDA in SCLC, this collaboration represents an exciting step forward for Aeglea as we investigate the potential of pegzilarginase to treat this devastating disease."

The multicenter Phase 1/2 study will evaluate overall response rate in patients with extensive disease SCLC who have relapsed or progressed after receiving platinum-based chemotherapy. Enrollment is expected to begin 1Q18. Additional details of the collaboration were not