Sichuan Kelun-Biotech Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (the "Company", 6990.HK) announced that the Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC) concluded that the Phase III clinical study (OptiTROP-Lung05) of the company's TROP2 ADC sacituzumab tirumotecan (sac-TMT, also known as SKB264/MK-2870), in combination with MSD's anti-PD-1 therapy KEYTRUDA^®[1] (pembrolizumab), as a first-line treatment for PD-L1-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), has demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival (PFS), the study's primary endpoint. A positive trend in overall survival was also observed. This is the first Phase III clinical trial of ADC combined with immune checkpoint inhibitor to achieve its primary endpoint in the first-line treatment of NSCLC.

OptiTROP-Lung05 is a randomized, open-label, multicenter Phase III clinical study evaluating the efficacy and safety profile of sac-TMT in combination with pembrolizumab versus pembrolizumab monotherapy as first-line treatment of patients with PD-L1-positive locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC with PD-L1 TPS ≥ 1%. At a pre-specified interim analysis, the sac-TMT combination therapy demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in PFS. Based on the results from the interim analysis, the Company plans to communicate with the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of the National Medical Products Administration of China regarding the submission of a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) of sac-TMT.

Sac-TMT is already approved in China for the treatment of EGFR-mutant NSCLC in the second-line and later settings and has achieved dual benefits in PFS and overall survival (OS) in the EGFR-TKI-resistant lung cancer population, making it the first ADC to show statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in both PFS and OS compared to platinum doublet chemotherapy. These research findings have been published in internationally renowned journals, The New England Journal of Medicine and The BMJ.

Sac-TMT is currently being evaluated in ten registrational studies in lung cancer, including five registrational studies in China and five global multicenter Phase III studies.