NantKwest Announces Presentation of Positive Phase 2 Clinical Data of Natural Killer Cell Therapy in Metastatic Merkel Cell Carcinoma at SITC 2019 - Seite 2

Other presentation highlights include:

• Overall response rate of 29% (2 of 7 patients)
• Evidence that aNK cell treatment may induce sensitivity to immune checkpoint inhibitors with a patient previously refractory to pembrolizumab demonstrating an ongoing complete response to the checkpoint inhibitor after completing aNK cell therapy
• aNK cell therapy resulted in increased levels of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and increased immune response-related gene expression within tumor tissue
• aNK cells in combination with N-803 were well-tolerated, with no treatment-related serious adverse events or grade ≥3 adverse events
• Infusions all safely administered in the outpatient setting without observed immune related adverse events

Dr. Bhatia said, “Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an aggressive skin cancer that is estimated to be three times more deadly than melanoma. PD-1 blockade works well for around 50 percent of patients with metastatic disease, but a significant proportion do not respond or progress later. Innate immunotherapy approach using aNK cells can potentially overcome resistance mechanisms in PD-1 refractory tumors. I am particularly enthusiastic about the preliminary results of the MCC study, with two complete responses in patients with very advanced metastatic disease.”

About NantKwest

NantKwest (NASDAQ:NK) is an innovative, clinical-stage immunotherapy company focused on harnessing the power of the innate immune system to treat cancer and virally induced infectious diseases. We are the leading producer of clinical dose forms of off-the-shelf Natural Killer (NK) cell therapies. Our activated NK cell platform is designed to destroy cancer and virally infected cells from the body. The safety of our optimized, activated NK cells, as well as their activity against a broad range of cancers, have been tested in phase I clinical trials in Canada and Europe, as well as in multiple phase I and II clinical trials in the United States. By leveraging an integrated and extensive genomics and transcriptomics discovery and development engine, together with a pipeline of multiple, clinical-stage, immuno-oncology programs, NantKwest’s goal is to transform medicine by delivering living drugs in a bag and bringing novel NK cell-based therapies to routine clinical care. NantKwest is a member of the NantWorks ecosystem of companies. For more information, please visit https://nantkwest.com.