Imugene Ltd’s (ASX:IMU) phase 1 clinical trial data for its B cell peptide cancer vaccine B-Vaxx has been published in the prestigious American Association for Cancer Research journal Clinical Cancer Research.
The title of the article is "Phase 1 Immunotherapy Trial with Two Chimeric HER-2 B-Cell Peptide Vaccines emulsified in Montanide ISA 720VG and nor-MDP Adjuvant in Advanced Solid Tumors."
The article is primarily authored by Imugene’s Scientific Advisory Board members Professor Pravin Kaumaya from the Ohio State University and Dr Tanios Bekaii-Saab from the Mayo Clinic.
Notably, this first-in-human phase 1 study evaluated the safety profile, optimal immunologic/biologic dose and immunogenicity of the combination of two peptide B-cell epitope vaccines engineered to represent the trastuzumab and pertuzumab HER-2 binding sites.
While the billion dollar blockbusters marketed by Roche/Genentech Herceptinâ and Perjetaâ have been approved for clinical use, patients often develop resistance to these therapies.
READ: Imugene targets defender B-cells with cancer vaccines HER-Vaxx and B-Vaxx
Professor Pravin Kaumaya said: “We have advanced a new paradigm in immunotherapy that focuses on humoral responses based on conformational B-cell epitope vaccines.
“The study vaccine is safe, exhibits anti-tumor activity and shows preliminary indications that peptide vaccination may avoid therapeutic resistance and offers a promising alternative to monoclonal antibody therapies.”
Two lead cancer vaccine candidates
The company’s key assets are B-lymphocyte or B-cell peptide cancer vaccines that link an immunogenic protein with a B-cell epitope peptide and include an adjuvant to induce the body into producing antibodies against normal self-proteins.
Imugene’s two lead therapeutic vaccine candidates are the HER-Vaxx vaccine and the B-Vaxx vaccine.
HER-Vaxx is an anti-HER2/neu product that has been taken through a successful phase 1b study in 14 gastric cancer patients.
B-Vaxx is also another B-cell peptide cancer vaccine and is designed to treat tumours that over-express the HER2/neu receptor.