Innovent Biologics, Inc. announced that the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) for IBI343 as monotherapy for the treatment of claudin18.2-positive advanced gastric/gastro-esophageal junction adenocarcinoma (GC) patients who have progressed after at least 2 lines of prior systematic treatments. The BTD for IBI343 was based on the data from an ongoing Phase 1 study (NCT05458219), in which favorable safety and tolerability and promising antitumor activity of IBI343 monotherapy in advanced GC patients were observed. The study results will be published at an upcoming medical conference later in 2024.

Innovent is preparing for a registrational Phase 3 multi-regional clinical trial (MRCT) of IBI343 in patients with claudin18.2-positive, HER2-negative GC (G-HOPE-001, NCT06238843) to be initiated soon. NMPA Breakthrough Therapy Designation is intended to facilitate and expedite the development and review of an investigational drug to treat a serious disease or condition when preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug has demonstrated substantial improvement over current therapies. The BTD will not only qualify a drug candidate to receive status for rapid review by the CDE, but it will also allow the sponsor to obtain timely advice and communication from the CDE to accelerate the approval and launch to address the unmet clinical need of patients at an accelerated pace.