MODAKAFUSP ALFA (TAK-573) | Dan Vogl, MD, MSCE | ASH 2022

Hi, I'm Dan Vogel. I'm a myeloma specialist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. I'm here at the 2022 ASH meeting and presenting results of a phase 1-2 trial of a new drug called Modacifusp-Alpha. We're also calling it Moda because that's a hard name to say. Moda is a completely new type of treatment for cancer. It's an antibody attached to a hormone called interferon that directs that hormone to certain cells in the body that express a target molecule called CD38, which is on the surface of myeloma cells and also on the surface of immune cells. Moda has a really interesting two-part mechanism of action in that it can directly target interferon to myeloma cells, which is toxic to the myeloma cells and kills them, but interferon signaling in the immune cells actually stimulates them. So we think that Moda can both directly hurt myeloma cells and also stimulate an immune response against those cells. We presented the results this weekend of a hundred patients treated with Moda so far in our trial, and at the dose that we think is going to be effective, we saw that 43% of patients responded to Moda. And that includes patients who previously got treatments targeted against CD38 like daratumumab, and also patients who had been through every other type of treatment that is effective for myeloma, including treatments targeted at BCMA, which are among the newest things that patients have access to. So we're really excited about the potential for Moda and are planning a larger trial, investigating it at two doses that we think are both going to be effective. We're just not sure which one is the best one in a large group of patients and hoping that it moves towards approval. I think some of the most exciting data that we've seen at this year's ASH meeting has been about immunologically active treatments for multiple myeloma. There's a series of new CAR T cells, chimeric antigen receptor T cells, and bispecific T cell engaging antibodies aimed at several different targets, including BCMA, two new targets called FCRH5 and GPRC5D, and all of the exact names matter less than the idea that these individual treatments can each work after one another and can provide serial options for treating relapsed and refractory myeloma for patients who really need them.