Early Results of Mesothelioma Immuno-oncology Clinical Trial “Encouraging”
In November, 2016, Mesothelioma Help reported about the start of a mesothelioma clinical trial testing the efficacy of ONCOS-102, an immuno-oncology therapy, when used in combination with chemotherapy drugs. Now, 18 months later, the researchers report “encouraging results” from the phase I/II trial.
The clinical trial, being conducted at the Hospital Universitario Quirón in Barcelona, Spain, assessed the safety and “immunological activation” of the combination of ONCOS-102 with the chemotherapy combination of pemetrexed/cisplatin, the standard of care for pleural mesothelioma, according to a May 2 press release from Targovax, makers of the anti-cancer treatment.
https://www.ptcommunity.com/wire/targovax-announces-early-signal-efficacy-oncos-102-trial-mesothelioma
In the six-patient safety lead-in cohort, half of the patients, all with unresectable pleural mesothelioma, showed clinical response after six months. Three patients received ONCOS-102 and the chemotherapy combination treatment as first line treatment, and the other three received it after a previous treatment for mesothelioma. The results showed that two out of three of the first line patients, and one of the previously treated patients, responded.
“Mesothelioma is a challenging disease to treat, with few patients surviving beyond 12 months from diagnosis,” said Dr. Luis Paz-Ares, Chair of the Medical Oncology Department at the University Hospital 12 de Octubre, Madrid and Principal Investigator of the trial. “The three clinical responses observed in the safety lead-in cohort of the ONCOS-102 trial are encouraging.”
The next step is to move on to the Phase II trial that will include 30 patients when fully recruited, with 20 patients in the experimental group (including the safety cohort) and 10 patients in the control group, according to Targovax.
Targovax reports in the company’s 2018 Q1 results that there has been no significant advance in the treatment of mesothelioma in the last decade. With a successful clinical trial, the company notes that ONCOS-102, in combination with the current standard chemotherapy for pleural mesothelioma patients, has the opportunity to become the standard of care for first line treatment
“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,” said Dr. Luis Paz-Ares.
Pleural mesothelioma is the signature cancer of asbestos, found in the outer lining of the lungs called the mesothelium. The primary treatment modality is chemotherapy. Approximately 3,000 Americans are diagnosed with the terminal cancer each year.
To find out more about the clinical trial visit ClinicalTrials.gov.
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02879669
