Merus Announces First Patient Dosed in Phase 1 Clinical Trial of MCLA-158 in Patients with Solid Tumors

Merus (Nasdaq:MRUS), a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company developing innovative bispecific antibody therapeutics (Biclonics®), today announced that the first patient has been dosed in a Phase 1, first-in human clinical trial of MCLA-158 in patients with solid tumors with an initial focus on metastatic colorectal cancer.

As quoted in the press release:

The trial will be conducted in Europe, where several Clinical Trial Applications (CTAs) have been approved to date. The Company also announced the submission of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for MCLA-158, which was accepted by the FDA in April 2018. With this acceptance, Merus plans to open additional sites for this trial in the United States.

MCLA-158 is designed to bind to cancer stem cells expressing leucine-rich repeat-containing G protein-coupled receptor 5 (Lgr5) and epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR). MCLA-158 was identified from a large library of bispecific antibodies targeting molecules belonging to the Wnt and receptor tyrosine kinase signaling pathways as part of work performed by the suppresSTEM consortium, a project that was funded by the European Union.

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