Neon Therapeutics, Inc. and Apexigen Inc. announced that patient dosing has begun in NT-003, Neon's Phase 1b combination trial of NEO-PV-01 in metastatic melanoma. NEO-PV-01 is a personal neoantigen vaccine custom-designed and manufactured based on the unique mutational fingerprint of each individual patient. The Phase 1b trial is evaluating NEO-PV-01 and nivolumab in combination with other agents in first-line patients with advanced or metastatic melanoma.

One arm of the multi-arm study will evaluate the vaccine and nivolumab in combination with Apexigen's APX005M, an investigational CD40 agonist. Another will evaluate NEO-PV-01 and nivolumab in combination with ipilimumab.