GSK’s trio of cancer discontinuations
The group scraps cobolimab, alongside MAbs against PVRIG and CD96.
The group scraps cobolimab, alongside MAbs against PVRIG and CD96.
It’s been a tough year for GSK’s oncology division, and the group has pulled the plug on three more cancer assets, it disclosed in its third-quarter earnings report on Wednesday. The writing had been on the wall for one, the anti-Tim-3 antibody cobolimab, since its failure in the pivotal Costar Lung study earlier this year.
GSK is also canning the anti-PVRIG MAb GSK4381562 and the anti-CD96 antibody nelistotug. Both had been in phase 1.
The only other CD96-targeting asset in development, according to OncologyPipeline, is Agenus’s TIGIT x CD96 bispecific AGEN1777, to which Bristol Myers Squibb handed back rights last year. The project still appears in Agenus’s pipeline, but that group’s focus is on its botensilimab plus balstilimab combination.
There’s a little more activity in PVRIG, where the most advanced antibody is Compugen’s COM701, in the phase 1/2 MAIA-ovarian trial in platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer. Other groups are developing PVRIG x TIGIT-targeting bispecifics, including BioNTech, with the Biotheus-originated BNT3213 (PM1009) – although the driving force behind that acquisition was the PD-L1 x VEGF project pumitamig.
GSK oncology discontinuations in Q3 2025
| Project | Description | Key trial | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cobolimab | Anti-TIM-3 MAb | Ph3 Costar Lung in post-PD-(L)1 NSCLC | Failed Jul 2025; development terminated Sep 2025 |
| GSK4381562 | Anti-PVRIG MAb | Ph1 in solid tumours, - Jemperli, +/- belrestotug* | Removed in Q3 2025 |
| Nelistotug | Anti-CD96 MAb | Ph1 in solid tumours, +/- Jemperli, +/- belrestotug | Removed in Q3 2025 |
Note: *also includes nelistotug arm. Source: Company presentation.
Tim-3 is a target that’s seen various disappointments, including from AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb earlier this year. The remaining large player is BeOne Medicines, which is yet to report data from two studies featuring its contender surzebiclimab that completed this year: a phase 1/2 in solid tumours, and a phase 2 in head and neck cancer, both testing Tevimbra combos.
These are the latest setbacks for GSK, which also abandoned its iTeos-partnered anti-TIGIT MAb belrestotug in May, and in April disclosed the failure of the Zeal trial of its PARP inhibitor Zejula in first-line NSCLC maintenance.
But the UK group recently had better news, with FDA approval of its BCMA ADC Blenrep against the odds. And this week, GSK took another shot at ADCs, licensing a preclinical project from Syndivia for an undisclosed up-front fee. The company also didn’t disclose the target, only saying the project is being developed for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.
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