Bintrafusp alfa is a first-in-class bifunctional fusion protein that was designed for co-localized, simultaneous inhibition of two nonredundant immunosuppressive pathways, TGF-β and PD-L1, within the tumor microenvironment.

Treatment with bintrafusp alfa had a manageable safety profile and demonstrated clinical activity in patients with advanced, post-platinum esophageal adenocarcinoma from a phase 1 expansion cohort.

These results, along with those reported in the accompanying article from an expansion cohort of Asian patients with pretreated, PD-L1-unselected esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in a separate phase 1 study, support further clinical investigation of bintrafusp alfa in esophageal cancer.