Epizyme Reports Positive Data From Ongoing Phase 1 Study Of Tazemetostat

(RTTNews) - Epizyme, Inc. (EPZM), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company creating novel epigenetic therapeutics for cancer patients, reported results from the ongoing phase 1 trial of tazemetostat or EPZ-6438.

The company said tazemetostat is a first-in-class EZH2 inhibitor, showing meaningful clinical activity when used as an oral monotherapy in patients with advanced B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas or NHL and solid tumors. In NHL, treatment with tazemetostat continues to demonstrate an encouraging profile with nine of 15 evaluable NHL patients achieving an objective response, including a partial response in the first treated patient with an EZH2 tumor mutation.

The NHL patients enrolled on study were heavily pre-treated, with 85 percent of patients having received three or more prior therapies and 37 percent of patients having received more than five or more prior therapies. Thirty-seven percent of patients were refractory to their last prior regimen and 26 percent of patients had received a prior autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant.

The company plans to report a further update from the phase 1 trial by the end of 2015.