Mendus announces termination by Institut Bergonié of the collaboration agreement to study ilixadencel in soft tissue sarcomas

In July 2024, Mendus announced a collaboration with Institut Bergonié, Bordeaux, France to study ilixadencel as a novel immunotherapy for soft tissue sarcomas in combination with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor regorafenib and the immune checkpoint inhibitor avelumab as part of the REGOMUNE trial, which is coordinated by Institut Bergonié. Mendus has now received formal notification that Institut Bergonié will terminate the collaboration agreement with Mendus. Due to evolving business needs, Bayer AG will no longer support the REGOMUNE trial and Institut Bergonié is therefore no longer in a position to open new study cohorts for the trial.

As a consequence of the termination of the collaboration agreement with Institut Bergonié and in the light of the positive data with its lead program vididencel, Mendus has decided to not pursue new clinical trials with ilixadencel and to focus its clinical development strategy on vididencel.

“We are obviously disappointed by the termination of the collaboration with Institut Bergonié, because it was an excellent opportunity to study ilixadencel in soft tissue sarcomas with this renowned institute,” said Erik Manting, CEO of Mendus. “Since we are focused on preparing our lead product vididencel for late-stage clinical development in acute myeloid leukemia supported by the recent positive survival data update of the ADVANCE II Phase 2 trial, Mendus is currently not in a position to pursue new clinical trials for the ilixadencel program. Ilixadencel has however already demonstrated promising signs of clinical efficacy in multiple hard-to-treat solid, excellent safety in combination with other therapeutic modalities such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitors and benefits from a robust regulatory dossier. We will therefore consider strategic alternatives including potential partnerships for the ilixadencel program.”