Leap Therapeutics shares pop thanks to promising trial for cancer drug DKN-01

Shares of Leap Therapeutics (NASDAQ:LPTX) pushed higher Monday, thanks to optimistic data from a Phase 2 trial of its drug candidate DKN-01 in patients with advanced gynecological cancer.

Patients who were given DKN-01 reported both partial responses and durable clinical benefit in both the monotherapy and combination arms of the study, Leap said.

“We are very pleased with the single agent and combination activity of DKN-01 in this heavily pre-treated population. Allowing patients to achieve partial responses and durable stable disease with a favorable safety profile reflects meaningful clinical benefit,” Dr. Rebecca Arend of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine. “With the rapid enrollment of this study since the beginning of the year, we are looking forward to robust data maturing during the year.”

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Investors were enthused by the results, sending Leap shares up 29.8% to $2.92 before the opening bell.

DKN-01 is a humanized monoclonal antibody that binds to and blocks the activity of the Dickkopf-1 (DKK1) protein, which is linked to a range of cancers.

As part of the study, 21 patients with advanced gynecological cancer (who had previously received one to ten lines of therapy) took part in two monotherapy arms where just DKN-01 was given. Of 12 patients who could be evaluated, one patient experienced a partial response and six patients reported stable diseases for greater than six weeks.

Forty-one patients, who were also treated with prior therapies, were also enrolled in two combination arms of the study, which delivered DKN-01 in combination with Paclitaxel, the chemotherapy also known as Taxol. One patient taking part in this arm of the study experienced a partial response while 15 patients had stable diseases for greater than six weeks.

Results of the study were presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Leap specializes in targeted and immuno-oncology therapeutics. Leap’s most advanced clinical candidate is DKN-01, which is in clinical trials to treat patients with esophagogastric, hepatobiliary, gynecologic and prostate cancers. Its second clinical candidate, meanwhile, is TRX518, a humanized GITR agonist monoclonal antibody designed to enhance the immune system’s anti-tumor response.

Contact Ellen Kelleher at [email protected]

Story by ProactiveInvestors