BUFFALO, N.Y., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The research team behind an emerging immunotherapy for cancer will present interim findings from an ongoing clinical study in patients with brain cancer at the 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago. Collaborators from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Cleveland Clinic and MimiVax LLC will share data from their phase II study of SurVaxM as part of a combination treatment for patients with glioblastoma. The therapy appears to be safe, effective and worthy of further evaluation.
The researchers are exploring whether adding SurVaxM to standard therapy improves outcomes for patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. They found that 91% of patients receiving SurVaxM as part of this combination therapy were still living 12 months after initiating treatment, compared to 61% in a historical analysis of patients treated with standard therapy alone, and that 96% achieved six-month progression-free survival, compared to 54% among the historical comparison group. Thirteen of 63 patients continue to be without progression a year or longer into their participation in the study.
"These interim phase II trial results in newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients are very promising and offer the potential for longer-term survival in this group where there is great unmet medical need," says the study's senior author, SurVaxM co-inventor Robert Fenstermaker, MD, who is Chair of Neurosurgery at Roswell Park and Chief Medical Officer at MimiVax. "We believe this drug has the potential to change the glioblastoma treatment paradigm."
SurVaxM targets a cell-survival protein called survivin that is present in 95% of patients with glioblastomas, and also in patients with many other cancers.
The team will present these initial findings Saturday, June 2 (abstract 2041).
The single-arm study is being conducted at five sites: Roswell Park, the Cleveland Clinic, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The team's work has been supported by donations to Roswell Park and through private investment.
For an online version of this release, please visit the Roswell Park online Newsroom at https://www.roswellpark.org/newsroom.
Contacts: Annie Deck-Miller, Roswell Park
716-845-8593; annie.deck-miller@roswellpark.org
Peter Steinerman, Affinity Growth Advisors/MimiVax LLC
516-641-8959; peter.steinerman@affinitygrowth.com
SOURCE Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center