Elevation Oncology, Inc. announced that the first patient has been dosed in the Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating EO-3021 in patients with advanced unresectable or metastatic solid tumors likely to express Claudin 18.2 including gastric, gastroesophageal junction, pancreatic or esophageal cancers. EO-3021 is a potential best-in-class antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) that has been designed to selectively deliver a cytotoxic payload directly to Claudin 18.2-expressing cancer cells to minimize payload-associated toxicities and maximize anti-tumor activity. EO-3021 is a fully human monoclonal antibody that targets Claudin 18.2 and is site-specifically conjugated to the cytotoxic agent monomethyl auristatin E via a cleavable linker, with a drug-to-antibody ratio of 2. Elevation Oncology's Phase 1 clinical trial is an open-label, multi-center dose escalation and expansion study that is expected to enroll up to approximately 120 patients to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and preliminary anti-tumor activity of EO-3021 in advanced solid tumors likely to express Claudin 18.2. The dose escalation portion of the study will enroll patients with advanced unresectable or metastatic solid tumors likely to express Claudin 18.2, including gastric, gastroesophageal junction, pancreatic or esophageal cancers.

The expansion portion of the study is expected to further evaluate EO-3021 in patients with advanced unresectable or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancers. An additional objective of the study will be to assess the association of Claudin 18.2 expression and objective response. Elevation Oncology expects to report preliminary safety and anti-tumor data from its Phase 1 study during the first half of 2025.