An Investigator Sponsored Study is where the...

An Investigator Sponsored Study is where the Investigator/Oncologist will design the study as per his ideas. He will write the study protocol and other associated documents, complete the Ethics application for approval of the study and will bear most costs. Imugene will only be supplying the Investigational Product (IP), in this case HER-Vax. The benefit of these studies is that if the results are significant and data is published, then Imugene will be one of the authors on the study and will get mention in the journal. This is also a way to know more about the drug that's not known from current studies for eg in a smaller subset of patients with Gastric cancer (supposing that's the indication where this IP will be tested in this Investigator initiated study).

Investigator Sponsored/Investigator Initiated/Investigator led studies are very common in big pharmas where the company can afford to give some stock for free to research new ideas. It may not have data for commercial or regulatory benefits but certainly beneficial for advancement of science.