Eli Lilly announced new Phase 1 results for their experimental drug LY4170156, designed to target folate receptor alpha (FRα) in ovarian cancer patients.

This drug is an antibody-drug conjugate or ADC, which means it combines a targeted antibody with a cancer-killing drug to attack cancer cells specifically.

The trial involved 95 women with advanced ovarian cancer who had already gone through multiple prior treatments, including some who had a similar FRα targeting drug before.

The early results showed a promising overall response rate of 55% at the suggested Phase 2 dose of 4 mg/kg, meaning more than half of these patients saw their tumors shrink or stabilize.

Importantly, these anti-tumor effects were observed regardless of how much FRα the tumor expressed, which is good news since many targeted drugs only work if the target is highly present.

Safety-wise, common side effects included nausea, anemia (which means low red blood cell count), fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, and low white blood cell counts called neutropenia.

Notably, they didn’t observe serious nerve damage or eye problems, which can sometimes be an issue with similar treatments.

No maximum tolerated dose has been found yet, suggesting the drug is manageable at the tested doses so far.

Experts highlighted that although ADCs are changing treatment options for ovarian cancer, many patients still need better therapies, and these data suggest LY4170156 might fill that gap.

The company plans to move quickly into larger Phase 3 trials to confirm these promising early results.