Cancer therapeutics biotech Immutep (ASX:IMM) has enrolled and dosed the last patient for a segment of its phase 2 study into cancer treatments.

The recruitment and dosing milestone was for stage 2 of Part A of its TACTI-002 phase II study.

The study is being conducted with Merck in the US to check how well Immutep’s lead drug candidate eftilagimod alpha, or ‘efti’, works to treat a range of tumours in combination with the pioneering immunotherapy drug Keytruda.

The latest data from the trial was of complete responses in second line head and neck squamous cell carcinomas and an improving overall response rate.

In total 81 patients out of up to 109 are already enrolled in the trial at 12 sites across Australia, Europe, the UK and US. Recruitment is ongoing for Part B and for stage 2 of Part C.

Patients are participating in three parts: Part A and B are lung cancer studies and Part C is a study of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

A phase 1 trial in Germany with Merck and Pfizer is testing efti with avelumab on metastatic melanoma.

Efti is a soluble LAG-3 protein based on the LAG-3 immune control mechanism which plays a role in the regulation of the T cell immune response.

 

In other ASX health news:

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (ASX:FPH) has delivered a $287.3m net profit, up 37 per cent on the previous year.

This was thanks largely to growth in the use of the company’s Optiflow nasal high flow therapy, demand for products to treat COVID-19 patients, and strong hospital hardware sales throughout the course of the year.

The company is issuing a 15.5c dividend. It expects full-year revenue to be around $1.48bn and net profit of about $325m to $340m for the 2021 financial year.

Myfiziq (ASX:MYQ) says a body analysis app launched in Australia this month could see the company break even, if minimum numbers of 100,000 active users in the first 12 months are met.

It’s also pushing ahead with a delayed NASDAQ listing.

Neuren Pharmaceuticals (ASX:NEU) has raised $20m to support phase 2 clinical trials in three neurodevelopmental disorders.