SAN DIEGO, April 08: Phanes Therapeutics, Inc. (Phanes), a clinical stage biotech company focused on innovative drug discovery and development in oncology, announced today the initiation of the dose expansion phase in their clinical study evaluating spevatamig in combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of biliary tract cancer (BTC), following dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) clearance at two dose levels.
Spevatamig is a first-in-class native IgG-like bispecific antibody (bsAb) targeting claudin 18.2 and CD47. It was granted orphan drug designation (ODD) for the treatment of pancreatic cancer by the FDA in 2022 and was granted Fast Track designation for the treatment of patients with metastatic claudin 18.2-positive pancreatic adenocarcinoma in 2024. In 2023, Phanes entered into a clinical collaboration agreement with Merck (known as MSD outside the US and Canada) to study spevatamig in combination with Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, pembrolizumab.
Phanes is conducting clinical trials with spevatamig in multiple oncology indications, including a Phase 2 study evaluating the efficacy of spevatamig in combination with chemotherapy in first-line pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients. As of March 2026, more than 160 patients globally have been dosed with spevatamig collectively in monotherapy and combination therapy settings. Three posters on spevatamig will be presented at the upcoming American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2026 in San Diego.
