Oncosec Medical reports encouraging results from combination study on aggressive melanoma

Oct 9 2013

OncoSec Medical Inc. (OTCQB: ONCS), a company developing its advanced-stage ImmunoPulse DNA-based immunotherapy and NeoPulse therapy to treat solid tumors, has announced positive preliminary animal data demonstrating the benefits of combining the company's ImmunoPulse with anti-CTLA4 and anti-PD1 antibodies.

Dr. Richard Heller, professor at Old Dominion University, summarized the initial results of this study at the Cancer Vaccines and Gene Therapy Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The study was conducted using a single tumor model where a total of forty mice (eight treatment groups) were treated with either ImmunoPulse alone, or in combination with anti-CTLA4, anti-PD1 or both at varying concentrations. Safety and anti-tumor activity were assessed. Results indicate that all treatment groups showed 100% regression of treated lesions in all mice, and that no mice died as a result of toxicity from treatment. The results from this initial study demonstrate that ImmunoPulse in combination with anti-CTLA4 or anti-PD1 is safe, effective and does not have any contraindicated outcomes. Based on these positive results the company intends to continue testing combination approaches in more aggressive melanoma models that will support further evaluation of this approach in humans.

"Results are encouraging and indicate that using gene electrotransfer to deliver plasmid IL-12 into tumors can be an effective and safe delivery tool. Additional studies are being conducted to demonstrate that the combination may lead to immune responses against distant untreated lesions in mice. We will investigate the anti-tumor response and plan to present these findings in the near future," commented Dr. Heller.

In addition, Dr. Adil Daud, principal investigator and co-director of melanoma research at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, reviewed previously presented data from OncoSec's Phase II melanoma program. In his presentation titled Gene Electrotransfer in Solid Tumors, Dr. Daud discussed that continual analysis of the data so far confirms signals demonstrated in the positive interim immune response data presented earlier in the year.

Source: OncoSec Medical Inc.