Imugene (ASX: IMU), a clinical stage immune-oncology company, has commenced the dosing of a third cohort of patients in a monotherapy dose escalation trial for VAXINIA, its cancer-killing virus. The trial is part of Imugene’s phase one study, which is evaluating the safety of VAXINIA in treating metastatic advanced solid tumours (MAST). Additionally, the first cohort of a combination trial of VAXINIA and Pembrolizumab has also been dosed.
The MAST trial started with delivering a low dose of VAXINIA to patients who have had at least two prior lines of standard of care treatment for metastatic or advanced solid tumours. The trial commenced in May 2020 and is expected to run for approximately two years. The study aims to recruit up to 100 patients across about ten trial sites in Australia and the United States.
Imugene’s oncolytic virus, VAXINIA, was developed by City of Hope, a US cancer research centre, and licensed to Imugene in 2019. The virus has shown potential in shrinking tumours in preclinical lab and animal models for colon, lung, breast, ovarian and pancreatic cancer. The company’s study aims to evaluate the safety of VAXINIA in treating MAST patients.
Imugene’s immunotherapies seek to harness the immune system against tumours to potentially achieve similar or greater effects than synthetically manufactured monoclonal antibody and other immunotherapies. The company’s product pipeline includes multiple immunotherapy B-cell vaccine candidates and oncolytic virotherapy (CF33, the platform from which VAXINIA was developed) aimed at treating various cancers in combination with standard of care drugs and emerging immunotherapies such as CAR-T’s for solid tumours.
