Clinical Trials

Clinical stage biotechnology company ISA Pharmaceuticals has announced positive phase 1 data at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting for its combination therapy to treat recurrent and/or metastatic human papilloma virus type 16 (HPV16) positive oropharyngeal cancer (OPC).

The combination includes ISA101b (peltopepimut-S) and Regeneron’s anti-PD-1 Libtayo (cemiplimab) and it was trialled in 26 patients who had progressed on pembrolizumab or nivolumab ‒ including people who had not responded to previous anti-PD1 therapy ‒ for six months. Patients were treated until disease progression, toxicity, treatment withdrawal for up to 24 months.

The ISA101b and Libtayo combination resulted in an overall response rate (ORR) or 15.4%, with long-term disease stabilisation being achieved in 26.9% of all patients.

Dr Anthony Kong, principal investigator and medical oncologist at King’s College in London, said: “The initial results of this study are promising, given the high unmet medical need in this difficult-to-treat patient population.”

Leon Hooftman, chief medical officer of ISA Pharmaceuticals, said: “The most impressive element of this data set of anti-PD1 therapy-resistant head and neck cancer patients is the six months’ Disease Control Rate (DCR): it appears that the targeted therapeutic cancer vaccine ISA101b together with an anti-PD1 antibody can have a real stabilising effect in a fair proportion of these sick patients.”