Immutep (ASX:IMM), a biotechnology company developing novel immunotherapy treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases, says it has completed patient enrolment of the Phase 2b Active Immunotherapy PAClitaxel (AIPAC) clinical trial in HER2-negative/ Hormone Receptor-positive (HR+) metastatic breast cancer (MBC).
The AIPAC study has enrolled 226 patients at more than 30 clinical trial sites across Germany, the UK, France, Hungary, Belgium, Poland and the Netherlands.
The trial is evaluating Immutep’s lead product candidate, eftilagimod alpha (efti or IMP321), in combination with paclitaxel, a standard of care chemotherapy, as a chemo-immunotherapy combination in patients with HR+MBC not eligible for human epidermal receptor 2 (HER2) therapies.
"This combination is designed to boost the immune response against tumour cells compared to chemotherapy plus placebo," said the company.
"Apoptotic tumour cells induced by chemotherapy release antigenic tumour debris which are then captured by APCs. Boosting the APC network with efti increases cytotoxic T-cell responses which complements the direct cytotoxic effect of the chemotherapy."
The primary endpoint of the AIPAC study is PFS according to RECIST as evaluated by blinded independent central readers. Additional efficacy endpoints include PFS by local read, overall response rate (ORR) and overall survival (OS). The company said it expects to report PFS data, together with ORR data, in the first quarter of calendar year 2020.
According to CEO Marc Voigt, “The completion of recruitment for our Phase IIb AIPAC study is an important milestone for Immutep as this is our largest and most advanced clinical trial. As the first PFS data read-out is event-driven, the timeline for reporting remains on track for early in 2020. We sincerely thank our principal investigators, the patients and their families for being part of this study.
"MBC is a serious medical condition where patients have a median life expectancy of approximately two years from the start of first line chemotherapy. This means there is a clear high unmet medical need for new therapies that may deliver improved outcomes compared to current standard of care therapies.”