Biliary tract cancer (BTC) is a rare type of cancer that affects bile ducts, which are tubes that link the gallbladder, liver and pancreas together. Bile is produced in the gallbladder and is transported to the small intestine to aid the digestion of fatty foods. Advanced or metastatic biliary tract cancer is cancer that has grown a considerable amount and/or spread to other areas of the body and is incurable. Chemotherapy using gemcitabine and cisplatin is standard of care for first-line therapy in patients whose cancer is inoperable, and there are very limited second-line therapies for patients who have received platinum-based chemotherapy but where the cancer has not responded or relapsed.
Bintrafusp alfa, delivered via intravenous injection, is a novel bi-functional fusion protein that is composed of an antibody fused with a receptor. Chemotherapy aims to kill cancer cells by directly attacking them, whereas bintrafusp alfa works twofold by preventing cancer from being resistant to a patient’s immune system and stopping cancer cells from growing.