Recently, Coherus BioSciences announced that the FDA has approved the launch of PD-1 antibody toripalimab (marketed jointly by Junshi Biosciences and Coherus) for use in combination with gemcitabine/cisplatin as a first-line treatment for advanced recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The monotherapy has also been approved for second-line and subsequent treatments after platinum-containing therapy for recurrent or metastatic NPC.
Toripalimab (commercially known as Tu Yi) is a PD-1-targeted monoclonal antibody independently developed by Junshi Biosciences. The application for its market approval is based on the results of the JUPITER-02 study (a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, international multicenter phase III clinical trial) and the POLARIS-02 study (a multicenter, open-label, phase II pivotal registration clinical trial).
In the JUPITER-02 study, the results showed that compared to the chemotherapy alone group, the combination of toripalimab and chemotherapy significantly improved the overall survival (OS) of patients with recurrent or metastatic NPC in the first-line treatment. The 3-year OS rate reached 64.5%, and the risk of death decreased by 37% (median not reached vs 33.7 months, HR=0.63, P=0.0083), setting a new record for OS benefit in advanced NPC patients.
In the POLARIS-02 study, 190 patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma who had previously failed second-line or subsequent systemic therapy received toripalimab monotherapy. In the overall population, 5 cases achieved complete response (CR), 34 cases achieved partial response (PR), and 40 cases achieved stable disease (SD), resulting in an objective response rate (ORR) of 20.5%, meeting the primary endpoint of the study. The results of POLARIS-02 showed that toripalimab demonstrated durable anti-tumor activity and survival benefit, with controllable safety, and benefited patients regardless of PD-L1 expression.
Currently, the majority of NPC patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage, with approximately 10% of patients having distant metastasis. Although the 5-year survival rate for early-stage NPC reaches around 90% after treatment, the survival rate for advanced-stage patients remains low. Therefore, advanced NPC has become one of the important diseases seriously affecting human health.
Traditional treatment modalities for NPC include surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, with radiotherapy being the preferred curative treatment. However, some advanced NPC patients may still experience recurrence or distant metastasis despite receiving radiotherapy. Therefore, there is an urgent need for clinical exploration of new treatment strategies to improve the prognosis of advanced NPC patients.
After the approval of toripalimab, it became the first FDA-approved drug for the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. However, the road to approval for toripalimab has been quite challenging.
In March 2021, Junshi Biosciences and Coherus submitted a rolling Biologics License Application (BLA) to the FDA for toripalimab for the treatment of recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma and received FDA’s rolling review. In May 2022, Junshi Biosciences announced that due to “travel restrictions caused by the pandemic,” the FDA was unable to complete the on-site inspection of the drug’s manufacturing facilities. In July 2022, the FDA requested Junshi to make an easily manageable process change for quality control, and subsequently re-submitted the application to the FDA. Due to the impact of the pandemic, the FDA was unable to conduct the on-site inspection within the current review cycle, resulting in another delay in the approval process.
In July of this year, Junshi Biosciences stated that they successfully completed the on-site inspection of the domestic manufacturing base for toripalimab by the FDA at the end of May. Their partner, Coherus, is preparing for the commercialization of toripalimab in the United States.
On October 28th of this year, Junshi Biosciences/Coherus announced that the FDA had approved toripalimab in combination with gemcitabine/cisplatin as a first-line treatment for advanced recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients, and also as a monotherapy for second-line and above treatment for recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma after platinum-based chemotherapy.
Toripalimab becomes the first approved immu...
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