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Evolving Paradigms in Lung Cancer: Module 2 Rationale for PD-(L)1 x VEGF Bispecific Antibody Therapies

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Description

This activity is supported by an independent education grant from BioNTech-BMS Alliance. This online education program has been designed for healthcare professionals globally.

Join Dr. Joshua Sabari as he explores the emerging role of PD-(L)1 × VEGF bispecific antibodies in lung cancer. Through a review of their unique mechanisms of action and the latest clinical evidence, this expert-led microlearning module examines how these novel therapies may overcome the limitations of current treatment approaches and shape the future management of NSCLC and SCLC.

Prefer to read instead? Read our Key Clinical Summary here

Session Highlights

  • Explore the science behind PD-(L)1 × VEGF bispecific antibodies, including their mechanisms of action and how they differ from conventional monoclonal antibody therapies.
  • Review the latest clinical evidence for emerging bispecific agents, including ivonescimab and pumitamig, across NSCLC and SCLC.
  • Interpret key findings from recent clinical trials, including Harmony and Rosetta Lung studies, and their potential implications for future clinical practice.
  • Understand the future direction of lung cancer treatment, including ongoing Phase III trials and the evolving role of bispecific antibodies in improving patient outcomes.

Target Audience

This activity is intended for medical oncologists, pulmonologists, nurse practitioners, physician associates, pharmacists, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who care for patients with lung cancer, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

Faculty

Dr. Joshua Sabari is a thoracic medical oncologist at NYU Langone Health's Perlmutter Cancer Center, specializing in the treatment of non-small cell and small cell lung cancer. His clinical practice focuses on delivering personalized, patient-centered care, while his research is dedicated to developing biomarker-driven therapies and advancing precision medicine through innovative clinical trials. He is committed to translating emerging evidence into practical approaches that improve outcomes for patients with lung cancer.

Disclosures

Partners for Advancing Clinical Education (Partners) requires every individual in a position to control educational content to disclose all financial relationships with ineligible companies that have occurred within the past 24 months. Ineligible companies are organizations whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.

All relevant financial relationships for anyone with the ability to control the content of this educational activity are listed below and have been mitigated according to Partners policies. Others involved in the planning of this activity have no relevant financial relationships.

Dr Joshua Sabari faculty for this educational activity has the following financial relationships to disclose: Consultant, Advisor, Speaker: AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, EMD Serono, Genentech, Janssen (Johnson & Johnson), Jazz, Loxo Lilly, Mirati/Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Regeneron, Revolution Medicines, Sanofi Genzyme, Takeda. Research: Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen (Johnson & Johnson), Loxo Lilly, Mirati/Bristol Myers Squibb, Regeneron.

Joint Accreditation Statement

In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by Partners for Advancing Clinical Education (Partners) and MedAll. Partners is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the European Board for Accreditation of Continuing Education for Health Professionals (EBAC)

MedAll is an EBAC accredited provider since 2025. The European Board for Accreditation of Continuing Education for Health Professionals (EBAC) accredits Continuing Education (CE) programmes for the international medical community.

This program is accredited by the European Board for Accreditation of Continuing Education for Health Professionals (EBAC®) for 0.25 hour of effective education time.

EBAC® holds an agreement on mutual recognition of substantive equivalency with the US Accreditation Council for CME (ACCME) and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, respectively.

Through an agreement between the European Board for Accreditation of Continuing Education for Health Professionals (EBAC®) and the American Medical Association, physicians may convert EBAC® External CME credits to AMA PRA Category 1 Credits. Information on the process to convert EBAC® credit to AMA credit can be found on the AMA website. Other healthcare professionals may obtain from the AMA a certificate of participation in an activity eligible for conversion of credit to AMA PRA Category 1 Credit.

The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada hold an agreement on substantial equivalency of accreditation systems with EBAC.

EBAC® is a member of the International Academy for CPD Accreditation (IACPDA) and a partner member of the International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities (IAMRA).

Physician Continuing Education

Partners designates this enduring material for a maximum of 0.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Nursing Continuing Professional Development

The maximum number of hours awarded for this Nursing Continuing Professional Development activity is 0.25 ANCC contact hours.

Pharmacy Continuing Education

Partners designates this continuing education activity for 0.25 contact hour(s) (0.025 CEUs) of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education.

Universal Activity Number - JA4008073-9999-24-380-H01-P

Type of Activity: Knowledge

For Pharmacists: Upon successfully completing the post-test with a score of 75% or better and the activity evaluation form, transcript information will be sent to the NABP CPE Monitor Service within 4 weeks.

PA Continuing Medical Education

Partners has been authorized by the American Academy of PAs (AAPA) to award AAPA Category 1 CME credit for activities planned in accordance with AAPA CME Criteria. This activity is designated for 0.25 AAPA Category 1 CME credits. Approval is valid until July 14th 2027. PAs should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation.

Disclosure of Unlabeled Use

This educational activity may contain discussion of published and/or investigational uses of agents that are not indicated by the FDA. The planners of this activity do not recommend the use of any agent outside of the labeled indications. The opinions expressed in the educational activity are those of the faculty and do not necessarily represent the views of the planners. Please refer to the official prescribing information for each product for discussion of approved indications, contraindications, and warnings.

Disclaimer

Participants have an implied responsibility to use the newly acquired information to enhance patient outcomes and their own professional development. The information presented in this activity is not meant to serve as a guideline for patient management. Any procedures, medications, or other courses of diagnosis or treatment discussed or suggested in this activity should not be used by clinicians without evaluation of their patient’s conditions and possible contraindications and/or dangers in use, review of any applicable manufacturer’s product information, and comparison with recommendations of other authorities.

This continuing education activity is active starting July 22nd 2026, and will expire on July 14th 2027.

Estimated time to complete this activity: 15 Minutes

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Computer generated transcript

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The following transcript was generated automatically from the content and has not been checked or corrected manually.

My name is Josh Sabari. I'm a thoracic medical oncologist at NYU Langone Health Perlmutter Cancer Center in New York. Really excited to discuss evolving paradigms in lung cancer, clinical integration of PD1 and PDL1 VEGF bi-specific monoclonal antibodies. These are my disclosures. In the discussion today, we're gonna define by specific antibodies, a really hot and exciting area in lung cancer, as well as all solid tumors. We'll talk about the background, the innovation, the mechanism of action of these agents. We'll also talk about the development strategy in lung cancer. And I wanna Spotlight or highlight two novel therapies here, Ivanesimab, a PD1 VEGF monoclonal antibody, as well as pumidomi, a PDL1 VEGFA, uh, monoclonal antibody or bi-specific antibody in this setting. And then we'll end, uh, with some conclusions. So for the objective one of the discussion, we're gonna talk about the mechanism of action shift, and you'll sort of get where I'm going. We're moving from single monoclonal antibodies to more bi-specific. Why? We know that bi-specific antibodies may improve specificity as well as reduce the Rates of, um, you know, resistance and recurrence of disease. So we'll look at PD1 and PDL1, VEGF by specific antibody therapies. How do they differ from conventional therapy and how may they improve patient outcomes? We'll look at exciting data presented recently at ASCO 2026. So we know that monoclonal antibodies were designed to recognize one epitope or antigen. Here you can see a monoclonal antibody uh with two arms targeting that same antigen. We'll say antigen A binding site. When we think about bi-specific antibodies, we're, we're constructing, we're engineering these antibodies to be able to target multiple epitopes. Here we're looking at two. And the idea being that we may be able to improve specificity, and we may be able to target multiple different, you know, sort of redundancies or, or inconsistencies or liabilities in the tumor as well in, as in our immune system. So when I think about a bi-specific antibody, again, it's targeting two different epitopes or antigens, and these really range in size. Size from small proteins to large IgG-like molecules with additional domains. And you can imagine for a bi-specific antibody, you know, the, the, the sky is the limit. We can really build upon this platform for thinking about different strategies. Today, we're gonna focus on PD1, VEGF, but you can think about different constructs that can exist and they're being developed in the clinic now. Now, it's important to think about the physical linkage of two binding specificities that can create a dependency both across time and across space. And I think it's a little bit out there, but we know that binding events temporarily can occur sequentially, and we know that spatially, they can occur simultaneously. And this can lead to, again, enhanced activity of these agents in The clinical practice setting. And we have a few of these already FDA approved for use in solid tumor oncology. So, Amiantumab and EGFR and met bi-specific antibody, FDA approved for the management of EGFR mutant non-small cell lung cancer. We recently saw the approval of tarlatumab, a CD3, uh, DLL-3 bi-specific, uh, um, uh, monoclonal antibody. B-specific antibody. And, you know, tarlatumab being unique in that it's targeting CD3, uh, which is expressed on T cells. So this is a bite or a bi-specific T cell engager. And also recently, we saw the approval of xenoctuzumab, a HER2, HEER3 bi-specific antibody, uh, FDA approved an NRG1 fusion-positive metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. So, a lot of work has gone into developing these bio-specific antibodies. And if you look at the literature, early literature from the 1960s first mentions this idea of, you know, sort of scientifically fiction. Could we create antibodies that target more than one thing? And a lot of work has been done, both targeting FC portion of the receptor, uh, um, to try to better understand and how to, you know, sort of manipulate these. Constructs to better achieve our outcome, which is targeting uh tumor cells uh and also targeting the tumor microenvironment. So again, the first bi-specific monoclonal antibody that was approved in lung cancer dates back to about 2021, uh, 2022 now with Amivanumab, uh, in EGFR mutant metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, and we've seen so many more, uh, developed over the last, uh, couple of years. So, what is the mechanism of action here? Well, we know that there's a multi-modality mechanism of action. So there's many ways that these bi-specific antibodies are targeting. Uh, they can be bridging cells, uh, to the affector cell. Uh, we can see sort of receptor directly inhibiting. We can also see receptor activation if it's occurring in cysts. And then also, you can see sort of direct inhibition and downstream signaling prevention. Um, another thing that can occur is if you're engaging immune cells. Here I'm showing the ADCC or antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity. You can see this is a bite looking at a T cell, CD3 engaging, and on the tumor cell here, potentially engaging. CLL 3, you can see that you can actually get immune activation. And this occurs actually with all our uh bi-specific monoclonal antibodies, including PD1 uh and uh PDL1 VEGF bi-specific antibodies in the clinical practice setting. So what is the mechanism of action specifically now looking at a PD1 VEGF by specific? Well, again, we know a lot about VEGF inhibition, vascular endothelial growth factor. We know that tumors can secrete VEGFA and that promotes neovascularization, leading to growth and invasion and metastasis. Multiple therapeutic modalities have been developed to target um VEGF, and we know that by inhibiting VEGF, we can Starve tumor cells by blocking tumors, nutrient and oxygen supply. So there are monoclonal antibodies such as bevacizumab, for example, or ramisumumab, both FDA approved and non-small cell lung cancer that have shown progression-free survival as well as overall survival benefit. We also have multikinase inhibitors um that target VEGF that are approved outside of lung cancer but being developed as well in the lung cancer setting. I don't have to explain to you PD1 or PDL1. You all know well, uh, that there's an explosion of immune checkpoint inhibitors approved. We know that PD1 is expressed on immune cells, T cells in particular, uh, and it's an inhibitory receptor. Whereas PDL1 is expressed on tumor cells and really acts as the ligand, and this system of binding prevents autoimmunity and allows for immune evasion. Uh, so preventing the immune system. From recognizing and attacking things that it shouldn't be attacking. And here, uh, tumor cells, which we would hope the immune system would potentially, uh, recognize as foreign. So by, by co-opting this system, by using a checkpoint inhibitor, PD1 or PDL1 inhibitor, we can activate, uh, um, this, uh, system to allow uh T cell activation and, uh, autoimmunity, which is again, uh, something that we are co-opting in this population. Now, why do we need them to be specifically a bi-specific, right? Why can't we just use a PD1 or a PDL1 inhibitor with a VEGF inhibitor simultaneously? Well, we know that the presence of VEGF increases PD1 and PDL1 binding avidity. By 17, 18-fold in some studies. And we also know that the presence of PD1 and PDL1 increases VEGF binding avidity. So these, these uh binding actually will improve specificity of these agents in this setting. So there's been an explosion of data. Here, we'll start with Ivanesimab, uh, a PD1, uh, VEGF, a bi-specific antibody. We saw data from the Harmony A trial, uh, which was done, uh, in EGFR mutant non-small cell lung cancer in the second line. There is also a Harmony study, which is the global study of this, uh, looking at Ivanesimab plus chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone. And we did see a preliminary. Improvement in overall survival as well as progression-free survival. This is currently sitting with the FDA for approval. Harmony Two was also done in China. This is in the first-line driver mutation negative space in non-small cell lung cancer. And we studied Ivanesimab here versus pembrolizumab in those patients with PDL1 greater than 1%. We looked at both non-small cell squam as well as non-squam. And one argue that pembrolizumab as a single agent is the wrong control arm for patients with PDL1 less than 50%. Median progression-free survival was positive, 11 months versus about 6 months, and median overall survival not yet reached. More recently, we saw data at ASCO 2026 on the Harmony Six trial, which looked at first-line squamous patients receiving ivanesimab plus. Chemo versus tisillizumab, a PDO-1 inhibitor, plus chemotherapy. Very nicely designed trial again, done in China only here. Positive for progression-free survival, but was also very impressive, positive for median overall survival, 28 months for the treatment arm versus 24 months for the control arm. Again, this is China-only data. They did not enroll patients greater than 75 years, and they excluded patients.