Five Prime Therapeutics achieved a development milestone for cabiralizumab under the license and collaboration agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb, triggering a $25 million payment. The milestone was triggered by initiation of a Phase II trial sponsored by BMS, evaluating cabiralizumab and Opdivo (nivolumab) with and without chemotherapy in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

The Phase II trial is expected to enroll approximately 160 patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer that has progressed during or after one line of chemotherapy. 

“Effective treatment for patients with pancreatic cancer remains a significant unmet need and is a cancer for which existing immunotherapies have not been successful to date,” said Helen Collins, M.D., senior vice president and chief medical officer of Five Prime. “We are encouraged by the preliminary data presented at SITC 2017 and are pleased to see this trial underway.”