Early results from of a Scancell Holdings PLC phase I/II cancer study have been described as ‘very encouraging’ by one of the investigators supervising the trial.
So far, the company’s Modi-1 vaccine has been administered to 23 people as part of the ModiFY clinical evaluation of the drug.
It is being given to people with head and neck cancer patients and with other hard-to-treat cancers such as high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC) and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).
The results showed that all those vaccinated to date experienced skin reactions at the injection site indicative of a T cell response.
More importantly, 14 reached the first imaging evaluation timepoint at week eight, with one having confirmed partial response and seven patients exhibiting stable disease despite having progressive disease before enrolling in the study.
As no dose-limiting toxicities have been observed in the Modi-1-only group, cancer sufferers are now being enrolled in both the ongoing monotherapy expansion groups and those who will receive the Scancell drug alongside a checkpoint inhibitor treatment.
In a statement, Dr David Pinato, Principal Investigator at Imperial College, said: "Advanced ovarian cancer is an aggressive cancer which is hard to treat. The early efficacy data showing that the Modi-1 vaccine is stabilising this advanced disease is very encouraging.”
Scancell chief executive, Professor Lindy Durrant, added: “These results allow us to proceed with the monotherapy expansion cohorts and into the cohorts in combination with checkpoint inhibitors as planned."
In all, 138 people will be recruited to the trial to receive the single therapy or combination treatment.