Major Cancer Journal Highlights Data From An Inovio-Sponsored Trial

Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:INO) announced today a paper published in a major cancer journal detailed results of a patient with head and neck cancer treated with MEDI0457 achieved a sustained complete response (full remission) on treatment with a subsequent PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor.

As quoted in the press release:

In the Inovio-sponsored study of 22 patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma the company reported 91% (20/22) showed T cell activity in the blood or tissue.  MEDI0457­ – formerly called INO-3112 – was in 2015 licensed to MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca. These immune data as well as the financial terms of the license agreement have been previously reported by Inovio.

Dr. J. Joseph Kim, Inovio’s President and CEO, said, “We are buoyed by the study as it lends support to all of our HPV and oncology programs. These data demonstrated that Inovio’s technology based in MEDI0457 can generate durable HPV16/18 antigen-specific peripheral and tumor immune responses. The study supports our belief that this approach may be used as a complementary strategy to PD-1/PD-L1 inhibition in HPV-associated head and neck and other types of cancer to improve therapeutic outcomes. Inovio is collaborating with MedImmune (w/ MEDI0457) as well as Genentech and Regeneron (w/ INO-5401) in efficacy trials coupling Inovio’s DNA-based cancer immunotherapies with checkpoint inhibitors designed to increase response rates with data expected in 2019.”

Click here to read the full press release.