Biostar Announces Completion of Patient Recruitment for US Phase 1 Clinical Study of Utidelone Capsule

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Biostar Pharma, Inc., the US subsidiary of Beijing Biostar Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. which is a synthetic biology driven biopharma company focusing on the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative oncology drugs, is pleased to announce that subject recruitment of a US Phase 1 clinical study of Utidelone Capsule (UTD2), a company's key pipeline product, for advanced solid tumors (NCT05681000) has been completed.

This study is an open-label, dose-escalation Phase 1 clinical study, and conducted in several institutions across the US including Sarah Cannon Research Institute (Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute), University of Southern California, and the Washington University in St. Louis. The primary objective of this study is to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and dose-limiting toxicity (DLT); the secondary objective is to evaluate the efficacy and pharmacokinetic profile of UTD2 monotherapy in patients with advanced solid tumors.

Five dose cohorts were explored in this study. After confirming the DLT (diarrhea) in the highest dose cohort, 75mg/m²/day x 5 days was determined as MTD. A total of 18 patients with more than 10 different types of advanced solid tumors were enrolled. The median age was 63 years old, and 2/3 of the patients had received ≥ 3 lines of prior treatments. As of now, efficacy evaluations were completed in 12 patients, and 1 complete response (CR, ovarian cancer), 1 partial response (PR, ovarian cancer), and 8 stable disease (SD, prostate cancer, testicular cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, appendix adenocarcinoma, soft tissue sarcoma, etc.) were obtained with a clinical benefit rate of 83%. The results further demonstrated the broad-spectrum anti-tumor property of Utidelone. As for treatment duration, more than half of these patients received ≥3 cycles of treatments, and the maximum duration of response reached 36 weeks. In terms of safety, most treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) were grade 1-2, and the most frequently seen TRAEs (incidence ≥ 20%, including all grades) were diarrhea (55.6%), fatigue (33.3%), and neutropenia (22.2%), all of which were manageable. The preliminary results of this study were also presented at the 2024 ASCO meeting.

Dr. Li Tang, Chairman of Biostar Pharma commented: "This is the first study of UTD2 that has completed enrollment globally. We successfully achieved the primary objectives and observed encouraging efficacy and safety profiles. We are very grateful for the joint engagement and dedication of our US clinical institutions and investigators. We are confident that this blockbuster product will substantially change the administration regimen of microtubule inhibitors. We will advance the following pipelines for UTD2 at full speed and hopefully bring it to the market to benefit global cancer patients as soon as possible".

Biostar is actively carrying out clinical studies of UTD2 in China and abroad. A pivotal study in China for advanced breast cancer led by Professor Xu Binghe, Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, is in recruitment. The preliminary findings of this study were also presented at the ASCO meeting in 2024; the China Phase 2 study for advanced solid tumors including ovarian cancer and cholangiocarcinoma, etc. is in initiation. In addition, US FDA has granted an Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) to UTD2 for the treatment of advanced gastric cancer, and Biostar is preparing for IND filing of a Phase 2/3 multi-reginal clinical study (MRCT) led by Professor Ruihua Xu of Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center in both China and US simultaneously.

Utidelone is a new-generation genetically engineered microtubule inhibitor. Utidelone Injection (UTD1) has been launched in China in 2021 for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) progressed after at least one anthracycline- or taxane-containing chemotherapy regimen. The phase 3 study data showed that UTD1 is the only one to achieve both PFS and OS benefits for heavily pretreated MBC patients, and the results were twice orally presented at ASCO annual meetings. Utidelone has similar mechanism of action with that of taxanes while demonstrating multiple advantages, including better anti-tumor activity, broader anti-tumor spectrum, better safety profile with very low hematologic toxicity, effective against multidrug-resistant tumors with less prone to develop drug resistance, capability of crossing the blood-brain barrier so as to prevent and treat brain tumor, and high oral bioavailability. Multiple indication expansion clinical studies for UTD1 are also in progress in China and US, including but not limited to MRCT Phase 3 study for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), Phase 2 pivotal study for breast cancer brain metastasis in US and NSCLC brain metastasis in China, and Phase 3 study for breast cancer neoadjuvant in China. 

Compared to taxanes, which are difficult for oral formulation development, Utidelone is not susceptible to P-glycoprotein thus cannot be pumped out of the cancer cell by P-glycoprotein and has the advantage for higher oral bioavailability. By utilizing its synthetic biology technology platform, Biostar developed Utidelone Capsule, and its efficacy and safety have been confirmed in both US and China's studies. Utidelone Capsule will significantly improve the convenience of administration, compliance of patients, decrease in treatment cost and ease of combination therapy with other oral anti-cancer drugs, meaning more suitable for adjuvant and maintenance therapy.

About Beijing Biostar Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd.

Beijing Biostar Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. is an integrated biopharma company focusing on the development of first- and best-in-class innovative anti-cancer drugs with independent intellectual property through state-of-the-art technology platforms of combinatorial biosynthesis, microbial fermentation production and microbial drug formulation development. With an insight-driven strategy, experienced R&D teams, cGMP-compliant manufacturing facility and domestic commercialization capability, the company have built a balanced product pipeline, covering both lead product life-cycle expansion and early-stage projects development. Further information can be found on the company's website http://www.biostar-pharm.com/en or by contacting our business development team at [email protected] on partnering with us.