Immutep (ASX:IMM) said the median overall patient survival was 30.9 months in patients in its INSIGHT-003 phase one trial, evaluating eftilagimod alfa, or efti, in combination with Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy Keytruda, or pembrolizumab, and chemotherapy as first-line therapy for advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer in 51 evaluable non-squamous patients, according to a Monday Australian bourse filing.

Around 92% of patients enrolled in the trial had no or low programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression, with a tumor proportion score under 50%. The median overall survival was 37.8 months in patients with a tumor proportion score of over 50%.

The results compare favorably with historical benchmarks, the filing said.

Preliminary immune monitoring data generated from its discontinued TACTI-004 phase three trial indicated that patients treated with efti showed a different immune activation profile compared with those observed in previous studies. The TACTI-004 analysis is ongoing, with additional results expected in the September quarter.