Biothera Pharmaceuticals has entered into a clinical trial collaboration agreement with Genentech to assess the safety and efficacy of Biothera’s Imprime PGG in combination with Genentech’s atezolizumab, an anti-PD-L1 antibody, and bevacizumab, an anti-VEGF antibody, to treat patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Genentech will conduct the multicenter, which will enroll approximately 40 patients in the initial phase of the study.

Barry Labinger, president and chief executive officer of Biothera Pharmaceuticals, said, “Through this collaboration, we will expand our clinical research with Imprime PGG and immune checkpoint inhibitors to include anti-PD-L1 cancer immunotherapy in a new cancer indication. We believe that this triple combination regimen has the potential to demonstrate additive or synergistic activity and enhance clinical outcomes for patients with colorectal cancer.”

Under the agreement, researchers will evaluate the potential of Imprime PGG, atezolizumab and bevacizumab to increase overall patient responses. The collaboration also includes testing the experimental combination in MORPHEUS, Roche’s Novel Cancer Immunotherapy Development Platform.