We have an important trial fast approaching ...
What with the fanfare and interest around our CF-33 suite and of course onCARlytics, I don’t believe we haven’t focused too much on the potential of our PD1-Vaxx which is soon to move into its combo trial with atezolizumab (better known as Tecentriq). By the way Tecentriq is the firstPD-L1 inhibitor approved by the FDA.
Our PD1-Vaxx ‘combo’ trial is called IMPRINTER and we should soon see the first patient dosed, possibly in this quarter. The primary target, by the way, is Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). You may remember that I noted in an earlier post, that there are actually over 50 types of lung cancer, but this is an important target.
Background from IMU: “PD1-Vaxx is a B-cell immuno-therapy which aims to induce the body to produce polyclonal antibodies that block PD-1 signalling, and thus produce an anticancer effect similar to Keytruda, Opdivo and the other immune checkpoint inhibitor monoclonal antibodies”. There are a couple of big names mentioned there.
There are several things of note about this trial and PD1-Vaxx itself ...
At the recent World Conference on Lung Cancer (in Austria) IMU released some fantastic results. As most would understand, we are generally only looking at safety and tolerability, and to determine dosing levels, in Phase 1 trials. If we are very lucky, we may see early response signals.
Well, did I say early response signals?
LC tells us that the trial has a patient that has had their tumour burden reduced to zero, and they are still seeing this after 18 months. Note: They were a ‘late-stage’ patient, so this would have been stunning news for both them and their family. Imagine, no more chemo!
LC went on to explain that ... “Four patients were in the 10 μg/dose cohort (one patient achieved a CR),6 patients in 50 μg/dose cohort (two patients achieved SD), and 4 patients in the 100 μg/dose cohort (one patient achieved PR and two patients achieved SD).” In my opinion –impressive.
Perhaps just as importantly, PD1-Vaxx proved to be immunogenic and stimulated a sustained,antibody response. Yes, SUSTAINED ANTIBODY RESPONSE. And ... as they increased the dose, the response increased. Looks like something is working here, don’t you think?
Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the IMPRINTER trial is ... PD1-Vaxx will get a shot at what are referred to as naïve patients. Simple put, these are patients that haven’t already been ‘bashed about’ by a range of other treatments. IMU will actually get the first ‘clean shot’. Now this could be very, very interesting.
The above is just a reminder to everyone that IMU is so far from being a ‘one-trick-pony’. And, as always, not financial advice, just the opinion of one poster.
(20min delay)