ZIOPHARM Oncology Kicks Off Enrollment for Phase 1 Study

ZIOPHARM Oncology (NASDAQ:ZIOP) began enrollment for its Phase 1 study of Ad-RTS-hIL-12 and veledimex, a gene therapy for controlled expression of IL-12, in patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme.
As quoted in the press release:

The stereotactic cohort will include rGBM patients that are not scheduled to undergo surgical resection to assess the safety and tolerability of a single dose of Ad-RTS-hIL-12 administered via injection and activated with orally-administered veledimex (20 mg QD, days 1-14).

“Supported by strong clinical data highlighting the potential for controlled immune activation to affect survival outcomes in recurrent GBM, we are expanding our innovative Ad-RTS-hIL-12 + veledimex gene therapy into new treatment settings and combinations,” said Francois Lebel, M.D., Executive Vice President, Research and Development, Chief Medical Officer at ZIOPHARM. “By introducing stereotactic administration, we broaden the population of patients who may be eligible for treatment, including pediatric patients with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, a rapidly fatal and inoperable form of brain cancer.  Additionally, preclinical studies of this tunable IL-12 gene therapy in combination with an immune checkpoint inhibitor have yielded promising results, notably a 100 percent survival rate of treated mice, and we look forward to bringing this approach into the clinic.”

Click here to read the full press release.

Source: globenewswire.com