NVS - Leap Therapeutics begins trials of DKN-01 in gastric/colorectal cancers

• Leap Therapeutics ( NASDAQ: LPTX ) said part C of an ongoing phase 2 trial of its medicine DKN-01, in combination with BeiGene ( NASDAQ: BGNE ) and Novartis' ( NVS ) tislelizumab, has begun in patients with gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer (G/GEJ).
• The phase 2 trial, dubbed DisTinGuish will evaluate DKN-01 with tislelizumab and standard of care (SOC) chemotherapy in patients with inoperable, locally advanced, G/GEJ cancer.
• Part C will evaluate DKN-01 in combination with tislelizumab and SOC chemotherapy, compared to tislelizumab and SOC chemotherapy in ~160 first-line, HER2-negative patients who have had no prior therapy for unresectable locally advanced or metastatic G/GEJ cancer.
• In addition, Leap said it was starting a new trial of DKN-01 in combination with Roche's Avastin (bevacizumab) and chemotherapy in second-line patients with colorectal cancer.
• The company noted that it was also supporting an investigator-initiated trial of DKN-01 plus Merck's Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in patients with endometrial cancer, a type of cancer which begins in the uterus.

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