Induction of CA-125 Specific Immune
Response by Oregovomab Chemoimmunotherapy in Pancreatic Cancer
Patients
TSX Venture: QPT
EDMONTON, June 1, 2018 /CNW/ - Quest PharmaTech Inc.
(TSX-V: QPT) ("Quest" or the "Company"), a pharmaceutical company
developing and commercializing products to improve the quality of
life, today announced that its subsidiary, OncoQuest Inc., has
published an abstract, titled "A Phase II Study of Neoadjuvant
Chemoimmunotherapy Followed by Stereotactic Radiotherapy/Nelfinavir
in Patients with Locally Advanced CA125 Expressing Pancreatic
Adenocarcinoma" in the Journal of Clinical Oncology 36, 2018
(Suppl; asbt.e16202) as part of the Proceedings of American Society
of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, to be held June 1 to June 5, 2018, in Chicago, Illinois.
This physician sponsored clinical study was conducted at the
University of Nebraska Medical Center
with Dr. Chi Lin as the principal
investigator, to evaluate the safety, immune response and efficacy
of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with and without Oregovomab,
OncoQuest's anti-CA-125 antibody followed by hypo fractionated
stereotactic radiotherapy and concurrent HIV protease inhibitor,
nelfinavir, in patients with locally advanced CA-125 positive
pancreatic cancer. Nelfinavir has been shown in previous studies to
be a potent radiosensitizer.
This proof-of-concept open label study recruited a total of 11
patients, 9 of whom received oregovomab immunization. Five patients
received five cycles of oregovomab chemoimmunotherapy ("CIT") and
four patients received seven cycles of CIT. All nine received
stereotactic radiotherapy following their cycles of CIT. Out of the
four patients receiving seven cycles of CIT, two patients developed
CA125-specific IFNγ positive CD8 T cell response and survived over
28 months and 31 months, respectively, compared to a median
survival of 13 months in the study. The results also showed that
previously demonstrated immune response associated with CIT was not
negatively impacted by use of radiotherapy.
"The data continues to support that oregovomab CIT can induce
antigen specific T-cell responses in cancer patients that translate
into clinical benefits. It also provides further evidence that our
antibody based immunotherapy is a platform technology that can be
used with different cancers that express the same cancer antigen,"
commented Dr. Madiyalakan, CEO of Quest
and OncoQuest. "We are also continuing our study of oregovomab in
both front line and recurrent ovarian cancer to identify
combinations which result in demonstrable clinical benefit and will
provide the basis for moving this promising treatment forward to
registration."
OncoQuest also announces its recent addition to "The Narwhal
List of Canada's most financially
attractive private tech and healthcare companies". Compiled
by the Impact Centre at the University of
Toronto, "the Narwhal List ranks private Canadian companies
according to their Financial Velocity, the amount of funding a firm
has raised divided by the number of years it has been in existence.
This metric tracks the ability of firms to scale up and reach
world-class status."
About OncoQuest
OncoQuest is a subsidiary of Quest PharmaTech Inc. (TSXV-QPT)
("Quest"), and is a private biopharmaceutical company focused on
the development and commercialization of immunotherapies for
cancer. OncoQuest's technology platform includes a portfolio of
tumor antigen specific monoclonal immunoglobulins including CA-125,
MUC1, PSA and Her2/neu. We are developing protocols utilizing
these antibodies in combination with other immune modulating drugs
or drug combinations to enhance tumor specific immunity and
clinical outcome.
OncoQuest's lead product is oregovomab, an anti-CA-125 antibody,
for the treatment of ovarian cancer that has completed a frontline
randomized controlled Phase 2 study. In addition, oregovomab is
currently being studied in multiple Phase 2 clinical trials in the
relapsed recurrent ovarian cancer setting as well. OncoQuest's
anti-MUC1 antibody program has already undergone a Phase 1 clinical
trial in breast cancer patients, and its development is being led
by OncoVent Co. Ltd., OncoQuest's joint venture partner that has
licensed the rights of our immunotherapeutic antibodies in the
territory of Greater China.
OncoQuest's next-generation products are based on immunoglobulin E
licensed from UCLA, Stanford University and Advanced Immune
Therapeutics, Inc. These antigen-specific monoclonal IgE antibodies
are currently in preclinical development.
Additional information about OncoQuest can be found at the
company's re-designed website, www.oncoquestinc.com.
About Quest PharmaTech Inc.
Quest PharmaTech is a publicly traded; Canadian based
pharmaceutical company developing products to improve the quality
of life. The Company through its subsidiary, OncoQuest and its
Chinese joint venture, OncoVent, is developing antibody based
immunotherapeutic products for cancer. In addition, the Company
owns the Photodynamic Therapy technology for oncology and
dermatology applications, licensed to Bioceltran Co., Ltd., a Korea
based company (Bioceltran). Quest
has an ownership interest in Bioceltran, which is focused on SP
Technology™ for transdermal delivery of drugs and photosensitizers
for pharmaceutical and cosmetic purposes. Quest through another subsidiary, Madenco
Biosciences, also markets consumer health products worldwide,
including Bellus Skin™ serum, a premium anti-wrinkle skin care
product licensed from Korea. Quest is also developing an antibody licensed from
University of Nebraska, Mab AR 9.6
against truncated O-glycan on MUC16, for targeted cancer therapy
applications.
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Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
SOURCE Quest PharmaTech Inc.