Targovax's ONCOS-102 mesothelioma 24-month data shows class-leading median overall survival - Seite 2

Dr. Luis Paz-Ares, Chair of the Medical Oncology Department at the Hospital Doce de Octubre, Madrid and Principal Investigator of the trial, said: "Mesothelioma remains a challenging disease with a generally poor prognosis, and there is a large unmet medical need for new, innovative treatments such as ONCOS-102. Although the number of patients in this trial is small, the overall survial is very encouraging, particularly since the outcomes can be linked to ONCOS-102-induced immuno-modulation. These early results clearly support further clinical development, and we look forward to participating in future trials with ONCOS-102 in mesothelioma." 

Recently, the double checkpoint inhibitor (CPI) combination of Opdivo and Yervoy (nivolumab and ipilimumab) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (October 2020) and the European Medicines Agency (April 2021) for the first-line treatment of MPM, based on a phase 3 trial showing mOS of 18.1 months compared with 14.1 months in the SoC control group (pemetrexed/cisplatin). The Opdivo/Yervoy combination is seeing rapid uptake among clinicians in both the USA and Europe and is becoming the new preferred first-line Standard of Care. Given the class-leading activity ONCOS-102 has demonstrated in CPI-refractory melanoma (see link here), Targovax believes there is a strong scientific rationale for testing ONCOS-102 in the CPI-refractory setting also in MPM. This opportunity is now being discussed with key opinion leaders.   

Øystein Soug, CEO of Targovax, commented: "We are very pleased to see ONCOS-102 generating robust immune activation in a tumor type with low immunogenicity and delivering meaningful survival benefit for patients with high medical need. With the recent approval of the Opdivo/Yervoy combination, the power of immunotherapy is now making its way into mesothelioma and is already improving patient outcomes. ONCOS-102 is ideally positioned for combination with checkpoint inhibitors and, as demonstrated in our melanoma trial, to reactivate checkpoint resistant tumors. Therefore, we are now evaluating the potential opportunity in the emerging checkpoint resistant mesothelioma population, thereby expanding on the demonstrated ability of ONCOS-102 to bring benefit to the majority of patients who still progress after checkpoint inhibitor treatment."