Archive: Company News
Company News: New Clinical Data Demonstrate Strong Synergy between Cancer Vaccine ISA101 and Chemotherapy
– Data presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2014
– Potential new treatment being developed for patients with late-stage cervical cancer
ISA Pharmaceuticals B.V., a clinical-stage immunotherapy company focusing on rationally designed therapeutic vaccines against cancer and persistent viral infections, has announced new clinical data on its lead product candidate ISA101. ISA101 is a therapeutic cancer vaccine for the treatment of high-risk, HPV16-induced diseases, such as cervical cancer. The data were presented by principal investigator Prof. Sjoerd van der Burg, Ph.D., at this year’s American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in San Diego.
The data demonstrate strong synergy between ISA101 and chemotherapy, offering potential new treatment options for cervical cancer patients scheduled to receive standard chemotherapy with carboplatin / paclitaxel.
Prof. van der Burg and his group evaluated the immunological and clinical responses of patients with advanced cervical carcinoma in a Phase I combination trial. In this pilot trial, patients received ISA101 in combination with standard chemotherapy cycles (carboplatin / paclitaxel). Almost all patients showed a strong immune response to the ISA101 vaccine. Comprehensive immune monitoring confirmed the beneficial effect of myeloid suppressor cell depletion associated with a robust induction of HPV16-specific T-cell responses that were sustained throughout several cycles of chemotherapy.
The observation that depletion of myeloid suppressor cells by a carboplatin/paclitaxel chemotherapy regimen enhances the immune response to ISA101 is in line with prior observations that tumors promote immune tolerance starting early in the disease and that chemotherapy can restore immune competence in cancer patients.
Based on these results ISA has initiated a phase I/II study (CervISA) in October last year testing ISA101 in combination with carboplatin, paclitaxel and pegylated interferon alpha in women with advanced or recurrent cervical cancer.
The presentation titled “Synergistic effects of properly timed HPV16 SLP vaccination during standard carboplatin-paclitaxel chemotherapy in animals and patients with metastatic cervical carcinoma“ was given at the Minisymposium MS.IM02.01 “Immune-based Therapies: Responses, Biomarkers, and Mechanisms” on Monday, April 07, 2014, at 3:20 PM in Room 6CF at the San Diego Convention Center.
The abstract # 2938 is available at the AACR website www.aacr.org.
Company News: InDex Pharmaceuticals and Almirall enter into a license agreement for European rights of the phase III drug candidate Kappaproct®
InDex Pharmaceuticals and Almirall announced today that they have signed a license agreement for the European marketing rights to the drug candidate Kappaproct®. Under the terms of the agreement, InDex is eligible for an upfront payment as well as success driven milestone payments with a total deal value that could exceed EUR100M. InDex is also entitled to receive double digit royalties from Almirall on the European net sales of Kappaproct®.
InDex Pharmaceutical’s lead drug candidate Kappaproct® is a DNA-based immunomodulatory sequence (DIMS) that targets the toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9). Kappaproct is a potential treatment for severe Ulcerative Colitis (UC), a debilitating, chronic inflammation of the large intestine. The results from the ongoing Phase III trial COLLECT are expected in mid-2014.
Company News: Curetis Obtains Key Patent for Unyvero™ Technology
– Australian patent office grants patent for integrated amplification and detection in Unyvero™ cartridges
– Patent covers unique combination of end-point PCR with array-based detection
Curetis AG, a developer of next-level molecular diagnostic solutions, today announced that it has been granted a core technology patent by IP Australia, the Australian patent office, for its Unyvero™ platform technology. The patent, “Reaction Vessel For PCR Device and Method of Performing PCR,” is the first of several core technology patents filed by Curetis. Its claims cover PCR chamber vessels allowing the integrated amplification and detection of DNA sequences. Curetis has submitted patent applications covering this technology in other key regions, including Europe, the U.S. and Japan. The Company expects these additional patents to be granted in the near future.
Further patents covering additional aspects of the Unyvero™ Solution, e.g. the unique sample lysis technology, are pending.
Company News: New Clinical Data on Cancer Vaccine ISA101 to Be Presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2014
ISA Pharmaceuticals B.V., a clinical-stage immunotherapy company focusing on rationally designed therapeutic vaccines against cancer and persistent viral infections, today announced that principal investigator Prof. Sjoerd van der Burg, Ph.D., will present new clinical data on ISA101 at this year’s American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting. ISA101 is a therapeutic cancer vaccine for the treatment of high-risk, HPV16-induced diseases.
The presentation titled “Synergistic effects of properly timed HPV16 SLP vaccination during standard carboplatin-paclitaxel chemotherapy in animals and patients with metastatic cervical carcinoma“ will be given at the Minisymposium MS.IM02.01 “Immune-based Therapies: Responses, Biomarkers, and Mechanisms” on Monday, April 07, 2014, at 3:20 PM in Room 6CF at the San Diego Convention Center.
The abstract # 2938 is available at the AACR website www.aacr.org.