Immutep (ASX:IMM) discusses a transformative year for LAG-3 therapies

Immutep Limited (ASX:IMM) CEO and Executive Director Marc Voigt discusses the LAG-3 landscape, the company's portfolio of therapies, encouraging data from the 2022 SITC conference and the outlook for 2023.

Tim McGowen: We're talking today with Immutep (ASX:IMM). The company's leading the development of immunotherapy for cancer and the treatment of autoimmune diseases. The company has a market cap of $272 million and an ASX code of IMM. We have with us the company CEO, Marc Voigt. Marc, welcome back to Sydney. Thanks for your time.

Marc Voigt: Thank you so much, Tim. Thank you for having me.

Tim McGowen: Marc, you're in town for your AGM and some investor meetings. Can you give us an update on the LAG-3 landscape?

Marc Voigt: Yeah, indeed. The LAG-3 landscape was developing quite fast during 2022. It was a kind of transformative year because we saw the first ever LAG-3-related therapy from Bristol Myers Squibb called Opdualag being registered with the FDA in March, and in September also in the European Union. So, it's the first time that we see an approved third checkpoint therapy in the market, and it is great for us because we continue to be the leader in the field with more programs than anyone else, but to work on a validated basis and to see that commercial journey beginning is quite a strong message. So, we see in the LAG-3 landscape continued and increased investment from a variety of different parties. And, of course, we are part of that, and I believe it's fair to say that we delivered as well with our different LAG-3 products.

Tim McGowen: Marc, Immutep continues to hold a leadership position with its LAG-3 candidates, and you have more LAG-3 candidates than any other big pharma or biotech in development. Can you talk us through your product suite and what that means for shareholders?

Marc Voigt: Yeah, of course. So, we have four different key products and one research program. Two of the key products are positioned in autoimmune diseases. It's often forgotten that we also deal with autoimmune diseases. One is preclinical, called IMP761, where we will have, I hope, some news before end of this year and more to come in next year. Then we have a depleting antibody, which we exclusively worldwide out-licensed to GlaxoSmithKline. Looking at the oncology side of things, we have two key programs there, a so-called immune checkpoint inhibitor, anti-LAG-3, which we exclusively worldwide out-licensed to Novartis, and then we have Eftilagimod, our flagship, which I believe made great progress during the course of the year. We presented multiple different data points at very big conferences, and we delivered also in terms of regulatory interactions. So, we got FDA fast-track designation now also for first-line non-small cell lung cancer. So, overall a good development across the different assets, a very balanced portfolio, and, yeah, we hope, of course, to continue with that for the time being successful development.

Tim McGowen: And is that how you look at it? You've got a portfolio of these LAG-3 drugs, and then what isn't probably well-known is your partnerships and licensing agreements with big pharma. How does that all come together?

Marc Voigt: Yeah, I believe it's very important in our industry to actually really have a portfolio, so to have multiple different approaches. Success in research and development is never guaranteed, and it's not good if a company is exposed to a binary event on which everything depends. So, you should have, I believe, as a good homework you need to do, you should have a portfolio of different drugs, and you should also go in different clinical trials. So, to diversify the risk and, of course, also to have chances for multiple benefits is a key aspect, so that the company, the shareholders, the patients are not exposed to binary single event.

Tim McGowen: Marc, you were also invited recently to present your encouraging clinical data on efti. You presented that at the SITC conference. Can you talk to the significance of that?

Marc Voigt: SITC is a very good US-based conference focusing on so-called cancer immunotherapy, roundabout 5,000 attendees, big pharma, many doctors, immunologists. So, it's a focused conference on cancer, and it's great that we had the chance… I believe for the first time ever that an Australian pharma or biotech company has been doing that, presenting a so-called late-breaking oral presentation. By the way, also highlighted in the official press conference of SITC. And, in total, there were 1,500 abstracts, and only nine have been featured in that press conference. So, it was a great honour for us and very exciting. We had many, many meetings and follow-ups also from the data we presented at ASCO, the worldwide largest clinical oncology conference, which took place in June in Chicago. So, we have been getting adequate attention and recognition by the specialists in the field, and we are actually very excited about that because it's significantly easier for us to have multiple different conversations to different stakeholders. In past times, especially when LAG-3 has not been validated, it was more difficult, and we had to knock on many doors. These days, it's fair to say that people knock on our door. So, that's a good position for the company.

Tim McGowen: Marc, what's 2023 look like?

Marc Voigt: Yeah, 2023 will be very exciting, but also 2022 is not over, so we expect a number of different news, and 2023, we'll see more data, very important data and may highlight TACTI-003, a trial in first-line head and neck cancer. Potential readout is some time mid of next year. So, by our standards in the relative near-term. We will have additional data from TACTI-002, INSIGHT-003, we will provide regulatory updates, we will see the expansion of the pipeline. We will have hopefully also news from the variety of the different partners we are having in China. I mentioned Novartis, I mentioned Glaxo and others. So, there's a lot to expect. And despite the difficult year, 2022, for the whole sector, I believe Immutep has a chance to deliver and show a difference in terms of quality, and we are very much looking forward to that.

Tim McGowen: Marc, nice to see you in person. Thanks for your time.

Marc Voigt: Tim, thank you so much.

Source: Finance News Network