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PDS Biotech Announces Preliminary Efficacy Achievement in Phase 2 Combination Trial of PDS0101 Led by the National Cancer Institute
Full enrollment triggered by observation of 3 objective responses in continued evaluation of the initial group of 8 patients FLORHAM PARK, N.J., Feb. 03, 2021
About this update from Pds Biotechnology Corporation
[{"type":"text","content":"Full enrollment triggered by observation of 3 objective responses in continued evaluation of the initial group of 8 patients\nFLORHAM PARK, N.J., Feb. 03, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PDS Biotechnology Corporation (Nasdaq: PDSB), a clinical-stage immunotherapy company developing novel cancer therapies and infectious disease vaccines based on the Company’s proprietary Versamune® T-cell activating technology, today announced that the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Phase 2 clinical study of PDS0101 for the treatment of advanced human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancers that have progressed or returned after treatment achieved its preliminary objective response. The trial, which studies PDS0101 in combination with two investigational immune-modulating agents bintrafusp alfa (M7824), a TGF-β “trap”/ anti-PD-L1 bifunctional fusion protein, and NHS-IL12 (M9241), a DNA-targeted immunocytokine, will now progress to full enrollment of approximately 20 in this group of checkpoint inhibitor (CPI) naïve patients. As a result of achieving this milestone, preliminary efficacy assessment of the triple combination in an added group of approximately 20 patients who have failed prior therapy with checkpoint inhibitors (CPI refractory) is ongoing. The NCI Center for Cancer Research’s Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology (LTIB) and Genitourinary Malignancies Branch (GMB) are jointly leading this Phase 2 trial. The trial is evaluating the treatment combination in two patient groups: one in patients who failed prior treatment, but are naïve to checkpoint inhibitor treatment; and the second in patients who have failed treatment with checkpoint inhibitors. As prespecified in the clinical trial design, the achievement of an objective response as measured by radiographic tumor responses according to RECIST 1.1 or iRECIST among at least three of the first eight patients allows the trial to progress to full enrollment. Pooled data from phase 1 and 2 trials reported in the October 2020 issue of the Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer (J ImmunoTher Cancer 2020;8:e001395. doi:10.1136/jitc-2020-001395) showed that bintrafusp alfa (M7824) a first-in-class bifunctional fusion protein composed of the extracellular domain of human TGF-β (TGF-β “trap”) fused to an IgG1 antibody blocking PD-L1 (anti–PD-L1) protein, demonstrated efficacy in checkpoint inhibit...