On June 6, 2023 Memgen, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company reported updated clinical data from its first-in-human study of MEM-288, an oncolytic viral therapy, in patients with advanced/metastatic refractory non-small cell lung cancer (Press release, Memgen, JUN 6, 2023, View Source [SID1234632537]). Dr. Andreas Saltos, the lead study investigator at Moffitt Cancer Center, presented the poster presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) 2023 Annual Meeting in Chicago.
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Dr. Saltos noted that "We looked at biopsies and blood samples for patients on the study and see encouraging signs of an anti-tumor immune response being generated. We’ve demonstrated that MEM-288 can powerfully shrink tumors and increase immune response even for patients with stage 4 tumors who had multiple prior treatments."
This MEM-288 dose-escalation, monotherapy study has now completed patient accrual of fourteen patients with advanced/metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) refractory to standard therapies including anti-PD(L)1.
The study’s primary safety endpoint was achieved with no dose limiting toxicities at any dose level, and no patients stopped treatment due to toxicity. Treatment-related adverse events consisted mostly of mild and transient injection-site reactions and flu-like symptoms.
Four patients had significant shrinkage (range -26% to -54%) of injected lesions, which correlated with strong remodeling of the tumor microenvironment and infiltration of CD8+ T-cells, and significant necrosis and apoptosis of tumor cells measured in tumor biopsies.
Systemic immune activation was clearly noted in multiple patients, with increases in IFN-gamma in the majority of patients as well as increased T-cell clonotype diversity in both tumor biopsies and peripheral blood following MEM-288 treatment.
Two patients have had ongoing durable responses after completing MEM-288 treatment and then receiving salvage chemotherapy. Both had previously relapsed on chemo/immunotherapy prior to MEM-288. One patient has had a complete response greater than 9 months and the other a partial response. Mark Cantwell, Memgen’s CSO, noted, "We continue to follow these patients and implications for expanded avenues to use MEM-288 in combination with multiple therapeutic strategies."