HIGH IMPACT – Surface Oncology provided a corporate update, including the decision to pause internal clinical development of SRF617 (CD39 mAb) and early clinical data for SRF388 monotherapy in NSCLC. The company intends to open a SRF388 + pembrolizumab study for 2-4L NSCLC.

Pipeline updates:

  • SRF617 (CD39 mAb) development will be paused, with a corresponding reduction of 20% of Surface’s workforce, to focus on SRF388 and SRF144, which the company claims have the greatest near-term potential.
  • Surface also announced SRF144 (CCR8 mAb) has been cleared for its IND application and expects to enroll the first patient soon.

Early signals of efficacy:

  • SRF388 as monotherapy in NSCLC achieved 2 partial responses in patients treated at or above the RP2D, both in patients with squamous NSCLC. A third patient with nsqNSCLC achieved durable disease stabilization for over 56 weeks. All three patients had previous chemotherapy and anti-PD-(L)1 therapy.
    • ORR: 22% (2/9) All NSCLC
    • ORR: 100% (2/2) sqNSCLC
  • The SRF388 monotherapy trial will progress to its second stage, enrolling 40 patients total.
  • The upcoming Phase 2 study for SRF388 + pembro for 2-4L NSCLC will enroll up to 40 patients.
  • Additional data for the SRF388 monotherapy and SRF388 + pembro trials will be shared 1H:2023.

inThought Analysis

Despite already established collaborations with pharma giants Novartis and GSK, Surface looks to be struggling, as it sheds dead weight in hopes of identifying its next, most valuable, asset. The CD39 mAb SRF617 was in Phase 1 trials as a monotherapy (NCT04336098) and Phase 2 combination trials for prostate cancer (NCT05177770), with promising data released last year at ESMO-IO 2021 showing 10/30 patients achieving stabilized disease at 8 weeks (link). However, it appears Surface does not find SRF617’s outlook compelling enough and is now looking to offload the asset and cut its workforce by a fifth. Surface also is prioritizing indications for SRF388, pausing enrollment for its Phase 2 RCC trials (NCT05359861) in favor of NSCLC and HCC. With these plans, leadership claims Surface has sufficient cash runway until Q2 2024.

 

Source: Surface Oncology Press Release