Targovax announces encouraging interim results with RAS specific peptide vaccine in resected pancreatic cancer

Targovax has conducted a predetermined interim analysis of the TG01 Phase I/II trial, indicating promising one-year overall survival data when combining TG01 with gemcitabine (chemotherapy) as supplementary treatment of patients with pancreatic cancer.

Of the 19 patients included in the study, 15 patients provided consent to be followed up for survival and four patients did not provide consent to be followed up. One-year survival data showed that 14 out of these 15 patients were alive and one passed away due to pneumonia assessed by the investigator as unrelated to the patients underlying cancer.

The regimen was generally well tolerated and RAS specific T-cell immune responses were induced and enhanced when TG01/GM-CSF was administered in combination with gemcitabine⁽¹⁾.

"One must be careful when drawing conclusions from small survival trials, but this result is an encouraging signal of efficacy and we look forward to the two year survival data which is expected during the first half year of next year", says Gunnar Gårdemyr, CEO of Targovax.

The study is a single arm study of TG01 in combination with standard of care gemcitabine as adjuvant treatment of patients with operable pancreatic cancer. The interim analysis covered one-year survival of the first cohort of 19 patients.

References: one-year overall survival in two independent studies of patients with resected adenocarcinoma of the pancreas receiving standard of care gemcitabine were both approximately 75% ^(2,3).

ONCOS- 102 is part of a virus-based immunotherapy platform based on engineered oncolytic viruses armed with potent immune-stimulating transgenes targeting solid tumors. This treatment may reinstate the immune system's capacity to recognise and attack cancer cells.

TG01 and TG02 are part of a peptide-based immunotherapy platform targeting the difficult to treat RAS mutations found in more than 85% of pancreatic cancers, 50% of colorectal cancers and 20-30% of all cancers. Targovax is working towards demonstrating that TG vaccines will prolong time to cancer progression and increase survival.

The product candidates will be developed in combination with multiple treatments in several cancer indications, including checkpoint inhibitors. Targovax also has a number of other cancer immune therapy candidates in early stage of development. For more information please visit the website.

¹ D. Palmer et al, Poster, ASCO 2015.
² Oettle et al JAMA 2013; 310 (14): 1473-1481.
³ Neoptolemos et al, JAMA 2010; 304 (10): 1073-1081.