ALX Oncology Holdings Inc. announced the initiation of a Phase 2 investigator-sponsored study of evorpacept, a next generation CD47 blocker, in combination with ERBITUX® (cetuximab) and KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab), Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy, in patients with refractory microsatellite stable metastatic colorectal cancer (“mCRC”) who have progressed on at least two lines of systemic therapy. This is an open-label, multi-center, single-arm phase 2 clinical trial (NCT05167409). Eli Lilly and Company and Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, will respectively provide ERBITUX and KEYTRUDA to support this study.

This trial is being co-led by Wells Messersmith, M.D., Professor and Head of Medical Oncology at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and Director of the Academic GI Cancer Consortium (“AGICC”), and Robert Lentz, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Colorado Cancer Center. AGICC brings together a world class team of institutions and investigators to design and rapidly complete clinical trials in gastrointestinal cancers. The study is being managed by Criterium Inc., a full-service contract research organization dedicated to providing efficiency and expertise in clinical trial services.