Imugene (ASX:IMU), a clinical stage immuno-oncology company, has announced its HER-Vaxx cancer vaccine (IMU-131) is showing early promise in patients with metastatic gastric cancer and feedback from clinicians running the study has been positive.
Clinicians have reported no safety, toxicity or tolerability issues with HER-Vaxx during the first cohort dosing of patients, said the company.
According to lead investigator Professor Dr Christoph Zielinski, "The Cohort Review Committee for the study recently reviewed the results and has recommended dose escalation.”
Clinicians at eight sites across Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand will determine if the administration of HER-Vaxx in combination with chemotherapy will prolong survival, delay tumour progression, or reduce the tumour burden in patients with metastatic gastric cancer.
Professor Zielinski added, "Unlike Herceptin and Perjeta, which are 'injected synthetic antibody' products, HER-Vaxx activates the patient’s own immune system to produce a continuous supply of cancer targeting antibodies and induce a response against the tumors as we see with Herceptin and Perjeta.”
"The clinical results indicate that IMU-131 induces strong immune responses in patients, with antibodies to the target cancer biomarker HER2/neu strongly evident in validated assays," said the company.
Imugene chief scientific officer Professor, Dr Ursula Wiedermann, said, “We are pleased that there were no safety issues reported from the Cohort Review Committee. The early clinical data is also encouraging, indicating immune activation in vaccinated patients in a manner that is consistent with the vaccine’s postulated mechanism of action.”
“We are pleased with the results that we have seen so far. There is no observed toxicity and observing strong immune responses is exciting. Everyone supporting the study and involved in developing this important new cancer therapy are very encouraged by the progress to date. We look forward to completing the rest of the trial and reporting to the market further developments,” added Imugene CEO Leslie Chong.