Apexigen, Inc. announced topline data from an ongoing Phase 2 investigator sponsored trial in collaboration with Columbia University, evaluating sotigalimab, Apexigen's agonist antibody targeting CD40, in combination with standard of care doxorubicin (dox), in patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma (STS). In the subgroup of patients with liposarcoma (LPS), the second most common STS, treatment with sotigalimab combined with dox resulted in a median progression-free survival (mPFS) of 12.45 months relative to the historically observed mPFS of less than 5 months in patients treated with dox monotherapy. The objective of this ongoing study is to evaluate the efficacy of this novel combination and to further characterize the safety and feasibility of the combination of sotigalimab with dox.

Interim efficacy results: Sotigalimab combined with dox led to encouraging PFS in the completed LPS cohort consisting of dedifferentiated liposarcomas. As of September 27, 2022, of the 10 evaluable patients with LPS, the mPFS was 12.45 months (range: 1.4 to 25.3 months), which compares favorably to the historically observed mPFS of LPS patients treated with dox alone (<5 months). Results support the initiation of an expansion cohort with an additional 10 patients to inform a potential phase 3 registration-enabling trial in first-line LPS patients.