A phase III randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of the denosumab biosimilar QL1206 in postmenopausal Chinese women with osteoporosis and high fracture risk.

The current study evaluated the efficacy and safety of a denosumab biosimilar, QL1206 (60 mg), compared to placebo in postmenopausal Chinese women with osteoporosis and high fracture risk. At 31 study centers in China, a total of 455 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis and high fracture risk were randomly assigned to receive QL1206 (60 mg subcutaneously every 6 months) or placebo. From baseline to the 12-month follow-up, the participants who received QL1206 showed significantly increased bone mineral density (BMD) values (mean difference and 95% CI) in the lumbar spine: 4.780% (3.880%, 5.681%), total hip :3.930% (3.136%, 4.725%), femoral neck 2.733% (1.877%, 3.589%) and trochanter: 4.058% (2.791%, 5.325%) compared with the participants who received the placebo. In addition, QL1206 injection significantly decreased the serum levels of C-terminal crosslinked telopeptides of type 1 collagen (CTX): -77.352% (-87.080%, -66.844%), and N-terminal procollagen of type l collagen (P1NP): -50.867% (-57.184%, -45.217%) compared with the placebo over the period from baseline to 12 months. No new or unexpected adverse events were observed. We concluded that compared with placebo, QL1206 effectively increased the BMD of the lumbar spine, total hip, femoral neck and trochanter in postmenopausal Chinese women with osteoporosis and rapidly decreased bone turnover markers. This study demonstrated that QL1206 has beneficial effects on postmenopausal Chinese women with osteoporosis and high fracture risk.

A randomized, double-blind, single-dose study to evaluate the biosimilarity of QL1101 with bevacizumab in healthy male subjects.

PURPOSE: This is the first study to compare the pharmacokinetics of QL1101, a proposed bevacizumab biosimilar, with Avastin® sourced from Roche Diagnostics GmbH. METHODS: In this double-blind, single-dose, parallel-group study, healthy male subjects were randomized 1:1 to receive QL1101 or Avastin® 3 mg/kg intravenously. Pharmacokinetic assessments were conducted for 85 days, with additional safety and immunogenicity assessments until day 90. Primary study endpoints were area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) from time zero to infinity (AUC0-∞), AUC from time zero to the last quantifiable concentration (AUC0-last), and maximum serum concentration (Cmax). Pharmacokinetic equivalence was shown if the 90% confidence intervals (CIs) of the geometric mean ratios (GMRs) of the C0-max, AUC0-last, and AUC0-∞ were within the predefined bioequivalence margin of 80-125.00%. RESULTS: A total of 82 subjects were randomized to the following groups: 42 to QL1101 and 40 to Avastin®. The 90% CIs of the GMRs of AUC0-∞, AUC0-last, and Cmax of QL1101 and Avastin® were (97.8%, 107.0%), (94.5%, 106.9%), and (94.1%, 107.3%), respectively, which were all within the bioequivalence margin. The incidence of adverse events was 90.5% and 95.0% in the QL1101 and Avastin® groups, respectively. Mean serum concentration-time profiles, secondary pharmacokinetic parameters, and safety and immunogenicity profiles were comparable across the two treatment groups. CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrated the pharmacokinetic equivalence of QL1101 to Avastin®. QL1101 (3 mg/kg, iv) is safe and tolerable in healthy Chinese subjects. These data support the further clinical evaluation of QL1101 as a bevacizumab biosimilar.

TOX3 protein expression is correlated with pathological characteristics in breast cancer.

TOX3 is a newly identified gene that has been observed to correlate with breast cancer by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in recent years. In addition, it has been noted that single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the TOX3 gene have a strong correlation with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive tumors. However, the role of TOX3 in breast carcinoma development is still unclear. There are limited studies on the subject of TOX3 mRNA expression in breast tumors and little information on the variation of TOX3 protein expression in relation to the clinical pathological features in breast cancer and healthy tissues. In this study, we characterize the protein expression of TOX3 in breast tumors with respect to various clinical and pathological characteristics and explore the correlation between TOX3 protein expression and ER-positive tumors. A breast cancer tissue microarray containing 267 human breast tumors and 25 healthy controls, breast cancer cell lines (ZR-75-1, MDA-MB-231, MCF-7 and Bcap-37) with positive or negative ER expression, tumor tissues and matched controls were used to analyze the protein expression levels of TOX3 by immunohistochemistry, western blot analysis and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Among the 267 breast tumor specimens, ER expression was detected in 66 tumor tissues. The expression levels of TOX3 increased in breast carcinoma tissue compared with controls, and were higher in advanced carcinoma (T3 and T4), lymph node metastases tissues (N2) and stage III tissues. Furthermore, TOX3 protein expression was more intense in ER-positive tumors, but did not demonstrate a statistical significance. However, it was significantly increased in ER-positive breast cancer cell lines (ZR-75-1, MCF-7 and Bcap-37) compared with the MDA-MB-231 cell line, which had ER-negative expression. Our findings provide support to the hypothesis that TOX3 has a strong correlation with the development of breast cancer. The current study is likely to assist in investigating the mechanisms involved in breast cancer development.