Targovax, a clinical stage company developing immunotherapy treatments for mesothelioma, has announced encouraging results from its phase I/II trial of its drug ONCOS-102.
The company reports that when the drug was combined with a standard of care chemotherapy treatment, three out of six of the patients treated had positive results.
The company’s open label trial was designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, immunological activation and overall response rate in patients with unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma.
Of the six patients that the drug was tested on, one had a partial response and two others showed a stabilization of their disease. All of the patients received ONCOS-102 and pemetrexed/cisplatin, although three patients had the protocol delivered as their first line of treatment, and the other three had previously undergone previous treatments.
Of those who received the combination as a first line of treatment, two out of three responded, while among the group that was receiving either their second or third line of treatment, one responded.
Following these results, the mesothelioma drug testing will now move on to a randomized trial involving 30 patients, 20 of whom will be given the drug and 10 of whom will act as controls.
“Mesothelioma is a challenging disease to treat, with few patients surviving beyond 12 months from diagnosis. The three clinical responses observed in the safety lead-in cohort of the ONCOS-102 trial are encouraging,” Dr. Luis Paz-Ares, Chair of the Medical Oncology Department at the University Hospital 12 de October, Madrid said.
“We look forward to entering the randomized part of the trial which will further evaluate the potential of this novel, innovative treatment to benefit more patients in the future.”
The ONCOS-102 trial represents the future of mesothelioma therapy, as the drug employs immunotherapy technology to target cancer cells and make chemotherapy even more effective.
If you have mesothelioma and would like information on this and other treatment options, contact the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net to learn more. We can be reached at 1-800-692-8608.
