Written by 8:00 am Breast Cancer Views: 62

Written by Rose Duesterwald Breast Cancer

The First Patient Has Been Dosed in a Phase ½ Clinical Trial Evaluating a Therapy to Target Treatment-Resistant Variant of HER2

Recently there has been a significant improvement in the treatment of HER2+ breast cancer due to HER2-targeted therapies. And yet with all the major advancements, there are no therapies approved to target p95HER2 that have been designed specifically to recruit T-cells attacking the tumor.

Taiwanese company AP Biosciences has announced that its first patient has been dosed in a Phase ½ clinical trial investigating a new antibody therapy. The therapy has been developed to target a variant of the common tumor marker HER2 that is treatment-resistant.

That variant form is called p95HER2, and it appears in up to 40% of HER2+ cancers. However, some tumors manage to strip part of the HER2 receptor that most therapies are designed to recognize.

A New Antibody

AP402 is a clinical-stage bispecific antibody that has two separate binding sites. This allows it to bind to two different antigens simultaneously. 

The antibody has been developed to:

  • target p95HER2
  • enlist T-cells to attack tumors
  • address HER2+ cancers that are treatment-resistant.

Preclinical data will be presented at the annual meeting of the AACR during the latter part of April in support of AP402’s potential.

AP402 targets the treatment-resistant variant of the tumor marker HER2 that does not respond to standard treatments.

AP402 is slated to be the first bispecific clinical stage antibody to address HER2+ treatment-resistant cancers and enlist T-cells to attack tumors.

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Last modified: April 29, 2025

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