Innate Pharma SA announced that AstraZeneca presented results from the randomized COAST Phase 2 trial during the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2021 on September 17, 2021. In particular, the results of the interim analysis showed monalizumab in combination with durvalumab improved progression-free survival (PFS) and objective response rate (ORR) compared to durvalumab alone in patients with unresectable, Stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had not progressed after concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CRT). Monalizumab, Innate’s lead partnered asset, is a potentially first-in-class immune checkpoint inhibitor targeting NKG2A receptors expressed on tumor infiltrating cytotoxic CD8+ T cells and NK cells. Based on these results, AstraZeneca informed Innate that it plans to start a registrational study with monalizumab in combination with durvalumab in patients with unresectable, Stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In 2020, an estimated 2.2 million people were diagnosed with lung cancer worldwide1. Lung cancer is broadly split into NSCLC and small cell lung cancer, with 80-85% classified as NSCLC.2,3,4 Stage III NSCLC represents approximately one quarter of NSCLC incidence. Stage III (locally advanced) NSCLC is commonly dividend into three subcategories (IIIA, IIIB and IIIC), defined by how much the cancer has spread locally. In contrast to Stage IV, when cancer has spread (metastasised), the majority of Stage III patients are currently treated with curative inten The majority of Stage III NSCLC patients are diagnosed with unresectable tumours2,5. Monalizumab is a potentially first-in-class immune checkpoint inhibitor targeting NKG2A receptors expressed on tumor infiltrating cytotoxic CD8+ T cells and NK cells. NKG2A is an inhibitory checkpoint receptor for HLA-E. By expressing HLA-E, cancer cells can protect themselves from killing by NKG2A+ immune cells. HLA-E is frequently overexpressed in the cancer cells of many solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Monalizumab may reestablish a broad anti-tumor response mediated by NK and T cells, and may enhance the cytotoxic potential of other therapeutic antibodies7. AstraZeneca obtained full oncology rights to monalizumab in October 2018 through a co-development and commercialization agreement initiated in 2015. The ongoing development for monalizumab is focused on investigating monalizumab in various combination strategies in different malignancies.