9 Meters Biopharma, Inc. announced a continuing collaboration agreement with Gustave Roussy using 9 Meters' small molecule tight junction microbiome modulator NM-102. NM-102 is presumed to prevent gut microbial metabolites and antigens from trafficking into the systemic circulation. This collaboration focuses on the relationship between intestinal microbiome composition and systemic responses to cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs).

Specifically, the work tested the hypothesis that the therapeutic effect of ICIs, such as antibodies to CTLA-4 and PD-1, might be enhanced by preventing bacterial antigens, toxins, and certain metabolites in the gut from interacting with the host immune system utilizing NM-102. These studies showed that NM-102 was effective both when alone and when combined with ICIs in a transgenic mouse model of spontaneous aggressive skin melanoma. Furthermore, the combination of NM-102 with ICIs improved survival compared to ICIs alone.

More recent data continues to show NM-102 in combination with ICIs improves overall survival in select mouse tumor models.