AbbVie has officially announced that new data from its early oncology research is set to be showcased across multiple presentations at the upcoming American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, April 25-30, 2025.
According to certain reports, these planned presentations are likely to include data from novel investigational molecules i.e. ABBV-969 and ABBV-514, along with their impact against a range of hard-to-treat tumor types. On top of that, they will also pack together comprehensive insights on treatment resistance and novel biomarker identification based on real-world-data analyses.
More on the former would reveal that it is essentially a novel, dual-targeted ADC, with a proprietary, cytotoxic topoisomerase 1 inhibitor (Top1i) payload.
In case you weren’t aware, ABBV-969 happens to be a drug candidate capable of targeting tumor cells that express STEAP1 and/or PSMA antigens. You see, this it does because prostate cancer cells may over-express STEA1, PSMA or both, with their expression strongly indicative of tumor growth. At present, though, ABBV-969 is understood to be in a Phase 1 clinical trial for men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).
Turning our attention towards a novel CCR8-targeting antibody in ABBV-514, it will have its data reinforcing CCR8’s stature as promising target due to its enhanced expression on tumor-infiltrating regulatory T cells (Tregs) and a higher prevalence of these CCR8+ Tregs being associated with poor clinical outcomes in several solid tumor types.
Markedly enough, if we go by the preclinical data, it confirms the drug’s ability when depleting CCR8+ Tregs inside the tumor, all while boasting strong monotherapy activity in a variety of in vivo tumor models, including models that are insensitive to anti-PD-1 treatment.
ABBV-514 is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical trial in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), head and neck cancer, and other solid tumors, both as a monotherapy and in combination with budigalimab, a PD-1-blocking antibody.
Another presentation set to join AbbVie’s showcase relates to an analysis conducted for characterizing the overlap of folate receptor alpha (FRa) expression, a biomarker found in almost 90 percent of ovarian cancers. The presentation will also analyze other biomarkers that could potentially help support the development of novel precision medicines.
The underlying idea behind such an assessment is to generate insights that could aid treatment matching for patients, as well as inform treatment sequencing and combination therapy options.
Moving on, AbbVie will also take the given opportunity to shed more light upon one new study which employed multi-omics approaches, across real-world-data analysis, to identify clinical features and molecular mechanisms of long-term response and acquired resistance to immunotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer.
Finally, the company will bring forth data on a novel approach for investigating relationships between germline variants, cancer patient prognosis, and treatment responses, using electronic health record-linked genomics data across a range of solid tumor types.
The study is basically tasked with showing how certain germline variants may serve as predictive biomarkers and help advance precision medicine R&D efforts.
“As we seek to advance innovative therapies for people living with difficult-to-treat cancers, our early-stage oncology research helps lay the scientific foundation for future innovation that may address profound unmet needs that many patients experience,” said Theodora S. Ross, M.D., Ph.D., vice president, early oncology research and development at AbbVie. “By harnessing the latest scientific breakthroughs in translational research, we are advancing novel therapeutic approaches such as ABBV-969 and ABBV-514, aiming to improve cancer care for patients worldwide.”
