ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. Announces Data from ICT-121 Phase 1 Trial in Recurrent Glioblastoma at ASCO 2017
June 05, 2017 at 04:05 pm
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ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. announced the presentation of data from the phase 1 clinical trial of ICT-121 in patients with recurrent glioblastoma. The data from the 20-patient, open-label, multi-center study show that 6 of 20 patients are alive (as of April 2017; survival ranging from 10 to 24 months), and these patients will continue to be followed. As noted in the data presentation, ICT-121 was generally safe and well tolerated. As also noted, although diversity in patient disease severity resulting from a protocol amendment to expand patient eligibility makes interpretation of survival data difficult, the results are encouraging and warrant further investigation. Pending immune response data will provide insight into the potential effectiveness of ICT-121 in inducing the formation of cytotoxic T cells targeting CD133, a cancer stem cell marker. ICT-121 is a dendritic cell-based immunotherapy that specifically targets CD133 which is overexpressed in a wide variety of solid tumors, including glioblastoma as well as non-small cell lung, colon, ovarian, pancreatic and breast cancers. The phase 1 data were presented by Jeremy D. Rudnick, MD, a neurologist in the Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. Brain Tumor Center in the Department of Neurology at Cedars-Sinai, in a poster titled, "Immunological targeting of CD133 in recurrent glioblastoma: A multi-center Phase I translational and clinical study of autologous CD133 dendritic cell immunotherapy." The data were presented at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), taking place in Chicago. The phase 1 multi-center trial of ICT-121 targeting CD133 assesses safety and tolerability (primary endpoint) and monitors overall survival and progression-free survival (secondary endpoints). ICT-121 is comprised of autologous dendritic cells that are loaded with two HLA-A2 restricted epitopes of the CD133 antigen. After surgical resection, the HLA-A2-positive patients with recurrent glioblastoma were treated with ICT-121 once a week for 4 weeks during the induction phase and then once every 2 months during the maintenance phase until disease progression, death, ICT-121 depletion or discontinuation. In addition to safety and survival data, the phase 1 trial also assesses immune response by using an ELISpot assay and examining cytokine mRNA expression in response ICT-121 treatment.
EOM Pharmaceutical Holdings, Inc. is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company. The Company is focused on developing novel drugs for patients suffering from debilitating and deadly diseases, including infectious diseases; autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis; and cachexia associated with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and cancer. It has two pipeline assets in their portfolio: EOM613 and EOM147. EOM613 is an investigational immunomodulator. EOM613 is a peptide-nucleic acid solution with both anti-inflammatory and pro-inflammatory broad spectrum cytokine effects. EOM613 helps to suppress or stimulate monocytes and macrophages depending on the activation state and environment of those key immune cells resulting in either further activation or suppression. EOM 147 is an investigational, broad-spectrum aminosterol with an intracellular mechanism for the treatment of retinal diseases. EOM147 affects multiple angiogenic growth factors such as VEGF, PdGF, and bFGF.