Coherus, Junshi Toripalimab-Chemo Combo Beat Chemo Alone in Late-Stage Nose & Throat Cancer Trial

Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co Ltd and Coherus BioSciences Inc CHRS have announced positive results from the pivotal Phase 3 JUPITER-02 trial evaluating toripalimab plus chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).
The results will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology.
The interim analysis met the primary endpoint, demonstrating a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) compared to chemotherapy alone.
Patients dosed with toripalimab-chemo posted a median PFS of 11.7 months compared with eight months on chemo alone.
The one-year PFS rate in the toripalimab arm was 49% versus 28% in control.
Meanwhile, a numerical PFS improvement was seen in patients regardless of PD-1 expression.
Meanwhile, toripalimab-chemo hit an overall response rate of 77.4% compared with 66.4% on chemo alone.
Overall survival at the first interim check-in was still too immature to judge, but early results showed a 40% relative risk reduction in the toripalimab arm versus chemo.
The arms were mostly comparable on the safety front, but the toripalimab arm posted a higher rate of immune-mediated and server or higher side effects.
Related content: Benzinga's Full FDA Calendar.
Price Action: CHRS shares are up 4.3% at $13.60 during the market session on the last check Friday.