Kairos sets its prostate cancer expectations

With eight patients' worth of lead-in data Kairos Pharma has tried to stoke enthusiasm for its anti-endoglin MAb carotuximab, in combination with Erleada in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. The headline number is median PFS of 13 months, which the group claims is well above the 3.7-5.6 months seen in two separate studies in similar, post-Zytiga/Xtandi, settings. However, Kairos's shares fell 20% on Thursday, so there are doubts about whether this will translate into a benefit in the next part of Kairos's study, which uses an Erleada-only control and will enrol 90 patients. The uncontrolled dataset is tiny, and excludes two subjects who withdrew; Kairos's cash, $3m at mid-year cash plus a subsequent $3.7m loan, is expected to last only to mid-2026. And there's no accounting for the Erleada part of the carotuximab combo; the control in the two comparator studies Kairos cites was a switch to Xtandi or Zytiga, and not to Erleada, which is approved in other prostate cancer settings. Targeting endoglin (CD105), which is thought to be expressed in response to AR signalling inhibition, is intended to resensitise tumours to AR pathway drugs, but whether carotuximab actually does this will only become evident in a controlled setting.

Carotuximab's convoluted journey to Kairos

Source: company disclosures.