Pancreatic cancer immunotherapy shows promise in melanoma

Pancreatic cancer immunotherapy shows promise in melanoma

20 Nov 2015

The latest five year survival results in patients with metastatic melanoma receiving IMM-101 indicate that the drug may have the potential to be effective in tumor types other than pancreatic cancer. IMM-101 is a bacterially derived systemic immunomodulator administered intradermally. The data was released by Immodulon Therapeutics.

Data from phase 1 and phase 2 clinical studies

Previous data released in January from a randomized, Phase 2 study of IMM-101 with gemcitabine in patients with advanced metastatic pancreatic cancer, showed significant improvements in overall survival and progression free survival compared to gemcitabine alone.

As such, IMM-101 was the first immunotherapy candidate to show a synergistic effect with chemotherapy when given first line in metastatic pancreatic cancer patients.

18 patients completed the original Phase 1 trial of IMM-101 in 2010 and, following a period of receiving IMM-101 on a named patient basis, 10 patients entered an open-label, long-term follow-up study between February and June 2012. 6 of these patients, all with Stage IV disease when entering the long-term follow-up study, are alive and still being treated with IMM-101.

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“Very encouraging results”

“These results are hugely encouraging, as they suggest that IMM-101 could be an effective first line treatment option for different types of metastatic cancers, which is a considerable step forward” said Prof Angus Dalgleish, Principal Investigator of the long- term follow-up study.

He added that: “I am particularly interested in the complete response seen in the patient who received IMM-101 and then the anti-CTLA-4 antibody, ipilimumab, as this supports that priming with an immunomodulator such as IMM-101 followed by administration of a checkpoint inhibitor may be a particularly efficacious combination. It certainly merits further research in a controlled setting.”

IMM-101 has been granted Orphan Drug Designation in the US and EU for the treatment of pancreatic cancer and is expected to enter Phase 3 clinical trials in 2016.

Source: eCancer News

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