Cantargia: Novartis’s CANOPY-2 trial disappoints - Edison

Novartis has reported negative headline data from its Phase III CANOPY-2 trial, investigating canakinumab (anti-IL1beta) with docetaxel for 2nd/3rd-line NSCLC. Cantargia’s lead asset CAN04 (anti-IL1RAP) is a potential competitor. While we acknowledge that Novartis’s data has created negative sentiment, we believe CAN04 is clearly differentiated. Cantargia’s Phase IIa CANFOUR trial investigates CAN04 in a combination with a different chemotherapy (platinum-based as opposed to docetaxel in the Novartis trial) and CAN04 blocks the signalling from both IL-1alpha and IL-1beta (recent interim data from the CANFOUR trial was positive). In addition, CAN04 has been show to effectively induce cancer cell death by an established mechanism ADCC (antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity). Ultimately, Novartis’s results will add to the totality of data and help Cantargia define CAN04’s positioning. Near-term catalysts are the readout from Novartis’s Phase III CANOPY-1 trial (H221, front line setting) and updated results from Cantargia’s Phase IIa CANFOUR trial (2021).