Exelixis Says FDA Accepts IND For XB002 In Patients With Advanced Solid Tumors - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Biotechnology company Exelixis, Inc. (EXEL) announced Monday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted its Investigational New Drug Application (IND) to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and preliminary antitumor activity of XB002 in patients with advanced solid tumors.

As a next-generation tissue factor-targeting antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), XB002 has the potential for an improved therapeutic index and may provide a favorable safety profile compared with earlier-generation tissue factor-targeting ADCs.

XB002 (formerly ICON-2) is an ADC composed of a human monoclonal antibody against tissue factor that is conjugated to a cytotoxic agent. After binding to tissue factor on tumor cells, XB002 is internalized, and the cytotoxic agent is released, resulting in targeted tumor cell death.

Preclinical data demonstrated that XB002 binds to tissue factor without affecting the coagulation cascade, in contrast with prior therapies in this class. The data also demonstrated encouraging activity of XB002 in multiple solid tumor cancer models and improved tolerability compared with other tissue factor-targeting ADCs. XB002 has shown significant tumor growth inhibition and, in some cases, complete regression.