Candel Therapeutics Narrows Focus for Promising Lung Cancer Treatment

Candel Therapeutics has made significant strides in its pursuit of an effective treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with recent data guiding the company towards a more focused approach in its clinical development strategy.

Long-Term Survival Data Shapes New Direction

The biotech firm has identified a subpopulation of lung cancer patients who have shown remarkable longevity when treated with CAN-2409, Candel's oncolytic virus therapy. In a phase 2a trial involving patients with advanced NSCLC who had previously shown inadequate response to checkpoint inhibitors, Candel observed striking differences in survival rates between squamous and non-squamous forms of the disease.

Of the 15 patients who survived two years after initiating treatment with CAN-2409, 14 had non-squamous lung cancer. Even more compelling, all nine patients who reached the 30-month survival mark were diagnosed with non-squamous NSCLC. This clear trend has led Candel to prioritize non-squamous NSCLC as they move forward with their clinical program.

Promising Survival Metrics and Immune Response

The long-term survivors emerged from a cohort of 41 patients, with 33 presenting non-squamous cancer. In this non-squamous group, median overall survival (OS) reached 25.4 months for the per-protocol population and 16.7 months in an exploratory intention-to-treat analysis. These figures stand in stark contrast to historical data for standard-of-care chemotherapy, which typically yields OS rates between 9.8 and 11.8 months.

Supporting the clinical outcomes, Candel reported more pronounced changes in immune cell populations—specifically T cells, B cells, and dendritic cells—in patients with non-squamous NSCLC compared to those with squamous histology. This immunological data provides additional rationale for the treatment's apparently superior efficacy in non-squamous tumors.

Strategic Pivot and Market Implications

Based on these encouraging results, Candel Therapeutics is now preparing for a potentially registrational clinical trial focusing exclusively on patients with non-squamous NSCLC. This strategic narrowing of focus is expected to have minimal impact on the company's target market, as non-squamous patients are estimated to represent 70% to 75% of the NSCLC population.

The decision to concentrate on non-squamous NSCLC not only streamlines Candel's development pathway but also positions the company to address a significant portion of the lung cancer market with a potentially transformative therapy. As the biotech advances towards this crucial next phase, the industry will be watching closely to see if CAN-2409 can maintain its promising performance in a larger, more targeted trial.