LAVA Therapeutics In Deal With Merck For Clinical Trial Collaboration; Stock Surges In Pre-market

(RTTNews) - LAVA Therapeutics N.V. (LVTX), a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, Thursday announced that it has entered into a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK). The deal will support the initiation of a combination arm in the ongoing Phase 1/2a trial in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer or mCRPC.

In pre-market activity on Nasdaq, LAVA shares were gaining more than 58 percent to trade at $2.45.

Under the deal, Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab) will be evaluated in combination with LAVA-1207, a Gammabody designed to target the prostate-specific membrane antigen or PSMA to trigger the potent and preferential killing of PSMA-positive tumor cells, in patients with therapy refractory mCRPC.

Merck will provide pembrolizumab for the dose escalation and expansion phases of LAVA's ongoing Phase 1/2a study of LAVA-1207 (NCT05369000), with the combination arm expected to be initiated in the first half of 2024.

Enrollment and dose escalation will also continue in the LAVA-1207 monotherapy and interleukin-2 arms of the study.

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