Coherus Oncology (CHRS) 3rd Annual Guggenheim Healthcare Innovation Conference summary

Strategic focus and operating plan

• Divestitures totaled ~$800M, nearly $500M of debt was repaid, and $250M was added to the balance sheet; development now centers on tagmokitug and casdozokitug.

• Development is prioritizing first- and second-line esophageal cancer, with second-line prioritized for accelerated development; the broad solid-tumor program established activity across several settings.

• A 30% headcount reduction, winding down transition services, and completion of toripalimab process transfer are expected to reduce overhead and burn; organizational savings are ~$6M–$7M per quarter.

• Plans include seeking tagmokitug partners, with a financial advisor being engaged; partners could help offset clinical costs and contribute to future development.

Tagmokitug clinical findings

• The TREGCHECK program showed activity across five tumor settings, including reversal of PD-1 resistance in second-line disease, enhanced activity with chemotherapy in first-line settings, and immune activation in colder tumors.

• First-line esophageal squamous cell cancer: 8/9 evaluable patients responded, including one complete response; ORR was 89%, and 100% among PD-L1-positive patients, versus standard-of-care benchmarks of 44%–60%.

• Second-line esophageal squamous and adenocarcinoma: 3/9 evaluable patients had partial responses, for 33% ORR, or 44% including an unconfirmed response; median PFS was ~5.5 months and clinical benefit rate was ~55%.

• Second-line chemotherapy benchmarks were ~10% ORR and 2–4 months PFS; the response and PFS data are early and immature, with some patients approaching eight months on study.

• Follow-up will continue in non-prioritized tumor types, including head and neck, colorectal, and gastric cancers, with durability tracked; additional combinations and partnering are being explored.

Regulatory and development plans

• An FDA meeting request is being prepared for early 2027 to align on the recommended phase II dose; a Type B meeting in the first part of 2027 is planned to discuss second-line development and first-line plans.

• Second-line options under consideration include a randomized phase II, a seamless design with overall-survival follow-up, or two independent studies; FDA alignment will shape the pivotal approach and accelerated-approval path.

• First-line development could expand treatment to PD-L1-negative patients, but would require a larger, longer study to establish contribution of effect; discussions with FDA are planned.

• A pasritamig combination study is expected to assess safety; establishing safety with a T-cell engager could support further combinations, with tagmokitug’s Treg depletion and increased CD8 cells underpinning the rationale.