FOSTER CITY, Calif. — December 8, 2025 — Leads & Copy —
Terns Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: TERN) today announced updated and expanded data from the ongoing CARDINAL trial of TERN-701, a novel investigational allosteric BCR::ABL1 inhibitor, in patients with previously treated chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). The data is being presented today at the 67th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, taking place December 6-9, 2025, in Orlando, FL.
The company will host a conference call and webcast for investors at 4:30 p.m. ET today following the ASH presentation.
The ASH presentation will be made available on the Terns Pharmaceuticals website simultaneously with the oral presentation by Elias Jabbour, MD, Professor, Department of Leukemia, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and lead investigator on the TERN-701 Phase 1 CARDINAL study.
Key highlights from the announcement include:
- 64% MMR achievement by 24 weeks across all efficacy evaluable patients.
- 75% MMR achievement by 24 weeks in efficacy evaluable patients at doses greater than 320mg QD.
- An encouraging safety and tolerability profile was maintained with longer duration of treatment.
- The company will host an investor update call today at 4:30pm ET.
Amy Burroughs, chief executive officer of Terns, stated that the accelerated study enrollment, now surpassing 85 patients, supports rapidly advancing TERN-701 through dose expansion cohorts, dose selection, and the initiation of pivotal studies.
According to Dr. Emil Kuriakose, chief medical officer of Terns, the company is particularly encouraged to see unprecedented rates of MMR in a highly refractory population, including compelling response achievement in patients with a lack of efficacy on prior asciminib, ponatinib, and/or other marketed and investigational TKIs.
As of the September 13, 2025 cutoff date, 63 patients were enrolled in the CARDINAL study. Overall, a cumulative MMR rate of 74% (28/38) by 24 weeks was observed in 38 efficacy-evaluable patients. No patients had lost MMR at the time of data cutoff.
Dr. Jabbour stated that, based on the data to date, TERN-701 represents an innovative treatment option that has the potential to achieve the important goal of early, broad, and deep responses with a safety/tolerability profile that allows long-term maintenance of response with improved quality of life for patients.
Assessment of patient cohorts at doses ≥ 320mg QD (n=53) showed similar overall baseline characteristics to the full study population. In 30 efficacy evaluable patients, there was an overall MMR rate of 80% (24/30) by 24 weeks, with 75% (18/24) achieving MMR and 100% maintaining MMR (6/6). DMR achievement rate by 24 weeks was 36% (10/28).
Contacts:
Investors: Justin Ng, investors@ternspharma.com; Media: Jenna Urban, CG Life, media@ternspharma.com
Source: Terns Pharmaceuticals
