Merck, a leading science and technology company, on 25 Nov 2019, announced the presentation of multiple abstracts on tepotinib* at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Asia Congress 2019 in Singapore.

Discovered in-house at Merck, tepotinib is an investigational oral MET kinase inhibitor that is designed to be highly potent and selective and to inhibit the oncogenic signalling caused by MET (gene) alterations, including both MET exon 14 skipping alterations and MET amplification, or MET protein overexpression. This month, tepotinib was granted orphan drug designation (ODD) in Japan for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harbouring MET gene alterations.

Earlier in September, tepotinib was granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harbouring MET exon 14 skipping alterations who progressed following platinum-based cancer therapy. In March 2018, tepotinib’s potential was also recognized by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), which granted SAKIGAKE ’fast-track’ designation for tepotinib in advanced NSCLC harbouring MET exon 14 skipping alterations.

“Our development program for tepotinib is focused on precision medicine. We are leveraging innovative, non-invasive liquid biopsies to identify patients in Asia who might benefit from this treatment,” Dr Rajiv Rana, Head, Medical Affairs – APAC, Merck Biopharma.

“Lung cancer is the most common type of cancer in Asia. Our extensive Asia-focused research on tepotinib demonstrates our commitment to developing new therapeutic options for people currently living with this disease in the region,” said Andre Musto, Regional Vice President – APAC, Merck Biopharma.

Merck presented the following studies at the conference:

1. Mini Oral Session Presentation #477O: Tepotinib plus gefitinib in patients with MET-amplified EGFR-mutant NSCLC: long-term outcomes of the INSIGHT study
2. Mini Oral Session Presentation #62O: Tepotinib in NSCLC patients harbouring METex14 skipping: Cohort A of phase II VISION study
3. Poster Display: 536TiP - INSIGHT 2: Tepotinib plus osimertinib in patients with EGFR-mutant NSCLC having acquired resistance to EGFR TKIs due to MET-amplification: a phase II trial in progress study
4. Poster Display: 67P - Pooled safety analysis of tepotinib in Asian patients with advanced solid tumours