Verastem, Inc. announced dosing of the first patient in a new clinical trial evaluating avelumab, an investigational fully human anti-PD-L1 IgG1 monoclonal antibody, in combination with Verastem’s defactinib, an investigational focal adhesion kinase (FAK) inhibitor, in patients with advanced ovarian cancer. The Phase 1/2 clinical trial is being conducted in collaboration with the alliance between Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, which in the US and Canada operates as EMD Serono, and Pfizer, and is expected to enroll approximately 100 patients at up to 15 sites across the U.S. The Phase 1/2 multicenter, open-label, dose-escalation and dose expansion study is designed to assess the safety, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and initial observations of clinical activity of the avelumab/defactinib combination in patients with recurrent or refractory stage III-IV ovarian cancer. Additional primary objectives of the study include identification of the recommended Phase 2 dose (RP2D), and assessment of the best overall response according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) version 1.1.