Coherus BioSciences, Inc. and Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co. Ltd. announced the publication of the final overall survival (OS) results from the pivotal JUPITER-02 study (NCT03581786), a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, international, multi-center Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating the immune checkpoint inhibitor LOQTORZI?? (toripalimab-tpzi), in combination with the chemotherapy agents gemcitabine and cisplatin, as a first-line treatment for patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

As previously reported at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO) Annual Meeting, the final analysis revealed a 37% reduction in the risk of death in NPC patients treated with toripalimab plus chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone. In October, Coherus and Junshi announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of LOQTORZI in combination with cisplatin and gemcitabine for the first-line treatment of adults with metastatic or metastatic NPC, and as monotherapy for the treatment of adults with recurrent, unresectable, or metastatic NPC with disease progression on or after platinum-containing chemotherapy. Coherus plans to launch LOQTORZI in the United States in January 2024.

There are limited options for patients living with this aggressive head and neck cancer. "The final OS data published in JAMA demonstrates the potential of LOQTORZI to significantly extend survival while slowing the progression of NPC, an aggressive form of cancer which up until now has had no approved therapies and therefore represents an important unmet need for patients in the US living with NPC.