Triplet Immunotherapy for Metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer Presented at Chinese Society for Clinical Oncology
UbiVac CEO discusses how biomarker data and preclinical studies led to a first-in-human Immunotherapy being tested in patients with metastatic breast cancer
Date: September 24, 2020
XIAMEN, CHINA ---- UbiVac, www.ubivac.com, a private, clinical-stage immuno-oncology company with a lead product that educates the immune system to recognize and destroy cancer, announced that its co-founder and CEO, Bernard A. Fox, PhD, will speak at the Chinese Society for Clinical Oncology Conference held 19-26 September in Xiamen, China.
During his remarks, Dr. Fox will outline findings of biomarker studies documenting that patients lacking anti-cancer immunity will respond significantly less well to standard cancer therapies or checkpoint blockers. These studies suggest that to improve patient outcomes, it will be necessary to induce or boost anti-cancer immune responses.
Dr. Fox will then review preclinical and clinical data that led to the development of a first-in-human triplet cancer immunotherapy trial. This multicenter randomized clinical trial includes: 1) a cancer vaccine, DPV-001, known to activate the anti-cancer immune response to a spectrum of cancer antigens, 2) a T cell agonist, anti-OX40, that can boost anti-cancer immune responses, followed by 3) delayed administration of anti-PD-1, to relieve checkpoint inhibition.
The cancer vaccine, UbiVac’s DRibble immunotherapy (DPV-001) is a first-in-class technology that combines more than 100 cancer antigens overexpressed by triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) with multiple immune stimulants in microvesicles that are targeted to dendritic cells. “DRibble vaccines are a disruptive technology documented to induce broad anti-cancer immune responses in mice and humans,” said Dr. Hong-Ming Hu, UbiVac co-founder and CSO. He continued, “however, our preclinical studies suggest that to increase the curative potential you need to add a booster, that is where anti-OX40 comes in”. Dr. Hu’s previous work, published in Scientific Reports in 2016, identified substantial and significant increases in long-term survival and apparent cures in mice receiving the DRibble cancer vaccine and anti-OX40.
A second break came when preclinical work from the Earle A. Chiles Research Institute showed that simultaneous combinations of anti-OX40 and anti-PD-1 could be detrimental to treatment, whereas delayed administration of anti-PD-1 could significantly increase apparent cures in a difficult to treat breast cancer model. These data led to the current clinical trial design, with delivery of anti-PD-1 being delayed until the third vaccine.
“While we are excited to be starting this trial with partners at three Cancer Centers in the USA”, Fox said, “we hope to expand this trial, and initiate additional studies that employ DPV-001 in combination with traditional cancer treatments, to other parts of the world in the future.”
UbiVac considers the path forward is clear. Data from several hundred peer-reviewed publications identifies that patient’s whose immune systems are not turned on to recognize their cancer will respond significantly less well to all forms of cancer treatment. UbiVac believes that DPV-001 provides a treatment which, in combination with other treatments, can engage a patient’s immune system and may improve patient outcome.
Dr. Fox will also discuss a second triplet cancer immunotherapy under development at the Earle A. Chiles Research Institute, a division of the Providence Cancer Institute, in Portland, Oregon, for investigation as treatment for advanced head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC). This trial also plans to use DPV-001 to prime an immune response to a spectrum of HNSCC antigens, a T cell agonist, anti-GITR, and a checkpoint blocker.
Award Number R44CA121612 from the National Cancer Institute, NIH, supported the research and clinical trial of DPV-001 as adjuvant treatment for patients with NSCLC. That trial characterized DPV-001’s safety profile, drug formulation and ability to induce immune responses to a broad spectrum of shared cancer antigens, thus providing the proof of concept for additional trials. This content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
UbiVac is a privately held, clinical stage immunotherapy company engaged in the research and development of therapeutic vaccines to combat cancer. With innovative, first-in-class platform technology that couples an off-the-shelf DC-targeted cancer vaccine with more than 100 cancer antigens for most adenocarcinomas and squamous cell cancers, plus multiple TLR/NOD agonists and DAMPs that are effective at inducing anti-cancer immune responses. UbiVac believes that DPV-001 is highly complementary to current and developing immunotherapy, chemotherapy and small molecule drug portfolios. UbiVac also has a pipeline of vaccines under development to prevent cancer in patients at high risk of developing disease and for those that have failed to respond to anti-PD-1/anti-PD-L1. Founded by Dr. Bernard A. Fox, Dr. Hong-Ming Hu and Mr. Bernard A. Fox, III, in Portland, Oregon in 2005, UbiVac is a spinout of the Robert W. Franz Cancer Center, Earle A. Chiles Research Institute at Providence Portland Medical Center.
Contact: [email protected]
UbiVac is currently raising equity funding from accredited investors. More information about the offering can be found at www.ubivac.com/investors.
Bernard A. Fox, PhD
UbiVac
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