Nanobiotix NBTX shares were up around 13% during the pre-market hours on Tuesday after the company announced that it has initiated dosing in a mid-stage study evaluating a potential first-in-class radioenhancer, JNJ-1900 (NBTXR3), to treat lung cancer patients. The candidate was added to Nanobiotix’s pipeline following a licensing deal for the global co-development and commercialization with pharma bigwig, Johnson & Johnson JNJ, in 2023.

The company stated that it has dosed the first patient with JNJ-1900 in the phase II CONVERGE study to treat patients with Stage 3 unresectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The eligibility criteria for this study include NSCLC patients receiving standard-of-care chemoradiation followed by consolidation immunotherapy with AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi (durvalumab). Per the global licensing agreement with Nanobiotix, Johnson & Johnson is responsible for funding the CONVERGE study.

In the past three months, NBTX shares have plunged 40.2% compared with the industry’s 10.6% decline.

NBTX’s Developmental Program for JNJ-1900 in Cancer

Nanobiotix’s pipeline comprises only JNJ-1900, which is being evaluated across multiple solid tumor indications as a single agent or in combination with anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitors. The company is working to explore additional tumor types and therapeutic combinations with the candidate through strategic collaboration deals.

Importantly, NBTX is evaluating the candidate in a registrational phase III NANORAY-312 study to treat patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell cancers. JNJ-1900 enjoys the FDA’s Fast Track designation for the same indication in the United States.

Last month, the company announced the completion of the dose escalation and dose expansion parts of an early-stage study evaluating JNJ-1900 in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer or borderline resectable pancreatic cancer. Per the data readout from the phase I study, a median overall survival of 23 months from the date of diagnosis was observed in 22 patients treated with the candidate compared to 19.2 months according to historical data. Additionally, JNJ-1900 was generally safe and overall well tolerated.

Based on the encouraging results, Nanobiotix has launched a new and additional study cohort, following FDA clearance, evaluating JNJ-1900 in combination with standard-of-care concurrent chemoradiation for pancreatic cancer indications. Enrollment in this cohort is currently ongoing.

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