Clinical Report: Merus data stand out among ASCO highlights

Merus led its fellow ASCO presenters in the first day of trading after the release of abstracts for the oncology conference, with a first look at head-and-neck cancer data for petosemtamab driving the biotech’s shares higher.

Phase II data in first-line head and neck squamous cell carcinoma for petosemtamab (MCLA-158), a EGFRxLGR5 bispecific antibody from  Merus N.V. (NASDAQ:MRUS), led to one complete response and five partial responses — three of which were unconfirmed at the time of the data cutoff — and three cases of stable disease among 10 patients (ORR=60%; DCR=90%). The unanswered question is what percentage of patients in the trial had HPV-positive tumors, which generally have much better responses than HPV-negative head and neck cancers (Abstract No. 6014). ...