4D pharma plc announced the presentation of a trial in progress poster from the Phase II clinical trial of MRx0518 in combination with BAVENCIO® (avelumab), a PD-L1 blocking antibody, as a first-line maintenance therapy for patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma that has not progressed with first-line platinum-containing chemotherapy, at the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL. MRx0518 is single strain Live Biotherapeutic Product (LBP) in development for the treatment of cancer. It is delivered as an oral capsule and stimulates the body's immune system, directing it to produce cytokines and immune cells that are known to attack tumors.

It is currently being evaluated in four clinical trials in patients with solid tumors. MRx0518-I-001 is a neoadjuvant monotherapy study in a variety of solid tumors and is being conducted at Imperial College (London, UK). MRx0518-I-002 is in combination with KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) in patients with acquired resistance to prior anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint therapies.

The Coordinating Investigator of the study is at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, USA, with multiple additional sites in the US. The study is being conducted in collaboration with MSD, the tradename of Merck & Co. Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA.

MRx0518-I-003 is in combination with preoperative radiotherapy in resectable pancreatic cancer. MRx0518-004 (AVENU) is a Phase II clinical trial of MRx0518 in combination with BAVENCIO® (avelumab) in the first-line maintenance setting for urothelial carcinoma, conducted in collaboration with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany and Pfizer Inc.