Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Reports 2nd Patient Achieving Full Remission from HPV-Related Head & Neck Cancer after Treatment with Synthetic DNA Vaccine and a PD-1 Checkpoint Inhibitor
January 24, 2019 at 01:47 pm
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Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that a second patient with HPV-related head and neck cancer treated with INO-3112 (now called MEDI0457) in a Phase 1 trial achieved a sustained complete response (full remission) after subsequent treatment with a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor. This marks the second patient with metastatic cancer observed in full remission (complete response) after treatment with synthetic DNA vaccine followed by a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor. Both patients who achieved full cancer remission were treated with four doses of synthetic DNA vaccine as part of a Phase 1 monotherapy trial of 22 patients with HPV related head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in which 91% of patients (20/22) showed T cell activity in the blood or tissue. This demonstrates that synthetic DNA vaccine generated robust HPV16/18 specific CD8+ T cell responses in peripheral blood and increased CD8+ T cell infiltration in resected tumor tissue samples. Of the four patients who developed progressive disease and were subsequently administered a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor, two patients rapidly exhibited a complete response. The most recent patient for which data was presented, received pembrolizumab (KEYTRUDA®); while the previously reported complete responder was treated with nivolumab (OPDIVO®). The patients moved from metastatic head and neck cancer to no evidence of disease and they remain alive two years after treatment. Detailed results of the first patient with head and neck cancer who received nivolumab were published in the October issue of Clinical Cancer Research.
Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company. The Company is focused on developing and commercializing deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) medicines to help treat and protect people from diseases associated with human papillomavirus (HPV), cancer, and infectious diseases. Its DNA medicines pipeline include INO-3107 for HPV-related recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP); INO-3112 for the treatment of HPV-related Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma, or OPSCC; VGX-3100 for the treatment of Anal or Perianal HSIL; INO-5401 for the treatment of Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), and INO-5401 for the Treatment of Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM). Its lead candidate is INO-3107 for the treatment of RRP, a rare and debilitating disease of the respiratory tract caused by HPV infection. Its DNA medicines platform consists of DNA plasmids and its CELLECTRA devices, which are used to deliver the DNA plasmids into the cell. Its CELLECTRA device portfolio consists of two models.
Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Reports 2nd Patient Achieving Full Remission from HPV-Related Head & Neck Cancer after Treatment with Synthetic DNA Vaccine and a PD-1 Checkpoint Inhibitor