Tag: AACR

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: 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.

Company News: Micromet’s BiTE Antibody MT112/BAY 2010112 Demonstrates Potent Activity against Human Prostate Cancer Cells

Micromet, Inc. (NASDAQ: MITI) yesterday evening announced the presentation of pre-clinical data on its BiTE antibody MT112/BAY 2010112, discovered and developed in collaboration with Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, at the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in Orlando, Florida.

The data (poster # 4561) demonstrate the potent activity of the BiTE antibody against human cancer cell lines and inhibition of tumor growth in animal models.  MT112/ BAY 2010112 directed human and non-human primate T cells against PSMA-positive human prostate cancer cells, resulting in highly efficient cancer cell destruction. In mice, daily doses of MT112/BAY 2010112 as low as 0.05 milligram/kilogram were sufficient to inhibit growth of tumors from human prostate cancer cells.

During the course of the meeting, the Company also presented preclinical data on MT110, its BiTE antibody targeting epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM).  Results reported (poster # 1790) provide further validation of EpCAM as a cancer stem cell target, and show utility of MT110 to eradicate cancer stem cells derived from breast and hepatocellular carcinoma.