Patients with non-small cell lung cancer who have failed initial immunotherapy therapy with anti-programmed cell death ligand-1 (PDL-1) checkpoint inhibitors, have responded to a new “bispecific” antibody that targets both the programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) antibody and also the T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain 3 (TIM-3) molecule.

Benjamin Besse, MD, PhD, Director of Clinical Research at the Department of Cancer Medicine in the Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, Paris, reported a Phase 1/2a study—the first to be done in humans—at the European Society for Medical Oncology 2023 annual congress held in Madrid, Spain.

OncTimesTalk correspondent, Peter Goodwin, interviewed Besse after the congress to find out about the potential clinical benefits the new drug AZD7789 (now called: sabestomig) among patients whose tumors have the TIM-3 target, and how—together with other targeted approaches— this bi-specific antibody could impact outcomes for an increasing proportion of patients with lung cancer.