Innate Pharma announces advancement of Sanofi-developed NK Cell Engager SAR443579/ IPH6101 progressing to Phase 2 for blood cancer patients

SAR443579 is an investigational trifunctional anti-CD123 NKp46xCD16 NK cell engager from a joint research collaboration between Innate Pharma and Sanofi. SAR443579 received FDA Fast Track Designation for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia. Efficacy and safety results from the dose-escalation part of the trial were shared in a poster presentation at the American Society of Hematology 2023 Annual Meeting in San Diego, California.

“The progression of SAR443579 to the Phase 2 expansion part of the clinical trial in blood cancers is another step in bringing this innovative NK cell engager to patients,” said Dr. Sonia Quaratino, Chief Medical Officer of Innate Pharma. “SAR443579 has shown promising clinical efficacy in the dose escalation of the Phase 1/2 in R/R AML patients, and we look forward to the dose expansion part of the study."

Under the terms of the 2016 research collaboration with Sanofi, the progression to the dose expansion part of the trial has triggered a milestone payment from Sanofi to Innate of €4m.

“Our goal is to continue to develop the best and most impactful treatments for patients with cancer,” said Peter Adamson, Global Development Head, Oncology, Sanofi.“We are encouraged by our progress in this study for patients with AML, and look forward to sharing results in the future as data continues to emerge.”

ANKET (Antibody-based NK cell Engager Therapeutics) is Innate's proprietary platform for developing next-generation, multi-specific natural killer (NK) cell engagers to treat certain types of cancer.

This versatile, fit-for-purpose technology is creating an entirely new class of molecules to induce synthetic immunity against cancer.

The Company has a research collaboration and license agreement with Sanofi to apply Innate’s proprietary technology to the development of innovative multi-specific antibody formats engaging NK cells through the activating receptors NKp46 and CD16 to kill tumor cells.

Under the terms of the 2016 research collaboration and license agreement, Sanofi is responsible for the development, manufacturing and commercialization of products resulting from the research collaboration, which includes SAR443579/IPH6101 (Trifunctional anti-CD123 NKp46xCD16 NK cell engager) and SAR445514/IPH6401 (Trifunctional anti-BCMA NKp46xCD16 NK cell engager). As part of the 2016 agreement, Innate Pharma is eligible to up to €400m in development and commercial milestone payments as well as royalties on net sales.

As part of the license agreement entered in December 2022, Sanofi licensed IPH62 and IPH67 and has the option for one additional target. Under the terms of the 2022 agreement, Innate Pharma is eligible to up to €1.35bn total in preclinical, clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones plus royalties on potential net sales.

Innate Pharma S.A. is a global, clinical-stage biotechnology company developing immunotherapies for cancer patients.

Innate’s portfolio includes lead proprietary program lacutamab, developed in advanced form of cutaneous T cell lymphomas and peripheral T cell lymphomas, monalizumab developed with AstraZeneca in non-small cell lung cancer, as well as ANKET multi-specific NK cell engagers to address multiple tumor types.

Headquartered in Marseille, France with a US office in Rockville, MD, Innate Pharma is listed on Euronext Paris and Nasdaq in the US.