On March 26, 2015 Oncolytics Biotech reported that Dr. Giovanni Selvaggi MD, Vice President, Clinical Development, made a presentation titled "REOLYSIN and Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: Rationale for Combination Therapy" at the 2015 Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors meeting being held from March 24th to 26th in Boston, MA (Press release, Oncolytics Biotech, MAR 26, 2015, View Source [SID:1234502558]). The presentation included data from single arm clinical studies in patients with primary glioblastomas or brain metastases (REO 013b) and advanced pancreatic cancer (REO 017), as well as preclinical data.

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Highlights of the data presented include:

REOLYSIN inducing the up-regulation of PD-1 and PD-L1 in target tissues in patients with primary glioblastomas or brain metastases, and that this up-regulation is strongly associated with productive reoviral infection (REO 013b);
The combination of REOLYSIN and gemcitabine inducing PD-L1 expression in tumour samples from pancreatic cancer patients (REO 017); and
The combination of REOLYSIN, GM-CSF, anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 improved survival in immune competent mice versus REOLYSIN and GM-CSF alone and REOLYSIN and GM-CSF plus either one of the checkpoint inhibitors alone.

"The anti-PD-1/PD-L1 class of drugs is currently one of the most promising new therapeutic areas in oncology and works by helping the body’s immune system recognize and eliminate tumours," said Dr. Brad Thompson, President and CEO of Oncolytics. "Higher levels of PD-1 and PD-L1 may improve this class of drugs’ effectiveness. The discovery that PD-1 and PD-L1 are up-regulated or increased in tumours in patients treated with REOLYSIN, combined with our animal model data findings to this point, may indicate that REOLYSIN is a potentiator for the entire anti-PD-1/PD-L1 drug class. We intend to immediately incorporate these findings into our clinical program."

REO 013b (brain) is a U.K. open-label, non-randomized, single-center study of REOLYSIN given intravenously to patients prior to planned surgery for recurrent high grade primary or metastatic brain tumours in advance of their scheduled operations to remove brain tumours.

REO 017 is a U.S. Phase II single-arm clinical trial using intravenous administration of REOLYSIN in combination with gemcitabine (Gemzar) in chemotherapy-naïve patients with advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer.

A copy of the presentation will be available on the Oncolytics website at: View Source