British drugmaker GSK’s experimental targeted cancer drug Mo-rez has blockbuster potential, its head of oncology research told reporters, after early-stage data showed it helped shrink tumors in patients with advanced, hard-to-treat cancers.
“This is one of our priority assets at this stage,” GSK’s Hesham Abdullah said on a call with journalists discussing the early data, which is being presented at a medical conference in Puerto Rico on Sunday.
“Do we think it would be a blockbuster? Yes, absolutely,” GSK’s Hesham Abdullah said on the call.
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Initial results assessed the proportion of patients who experienced a meaningful reduction in tumor size, defined as at least 30% shrinkage. In platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, 62% of patients achieved this threshold, while 67% of patients with endometrial cancer also met the same benchmark.
DATA GIVE MOMENTUM TO GSK’S ONCOLOGY BUSINESS
Analysts have not yet forecast future sales for Mo-rez due to the early-stage trial data.
The results add momentum to GSK’s rapidly growing oncology business. CEO Luke Miels, who began his role in January, has said the company will accelerate the development of new medicines, a shift that Abdullah noted is already being reflected in its product pipeline.
“I think it has been reflected in the type of pace that you are seeing and the type of conviction that we have in our programmes moving forward,” he added.
GSK is currently testing Mo-rez in two late-stage trials for ovarian and endometrial cancers and plans to begin three additional studies in the coming months.
Mo-rez is an antibody-drug conjugate that targets the B7H4 protein, which is found on gynecological cancer cells but is largely absent in healthy tissue. The market for ADC therapies is projected to reach $31 billion by 2030.
