PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa.,
July 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Geneos
Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company, a spin-out of
Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: INO), announced today that the
first cancer patient was dosed using the company's GT-EPIC
Neoantigen-Targeting Personalized Vaccine Technology. In this
first-in-human treatment – part of a clinical collaboration between
Geneos and Washington University School
of Medicine in St. Louis – a
patient with Anaplastic Astrocytoma, a form of advanced brain
cancer, is being treated on a Compassionate Use basis with the
patient's own tumor-derived neoantigen vaccine. The target
neoantigens were identified using Washington
University's proprietary neoantigen prediction algorithm –
pVAC-Seq. The vaccine, which targets 30 antigens including all 27
tumor specific neoantigens and 3 tumor antigens identified from the
patient's tumor, was designed and administered based on the GT-EPIC
Platform.
Dr. Niranjan Y. Sardesai, Geneos'
Chief Executive Officer, said "This first-in-human treatment is an
important milestone for Geneos as it demonstrates the company's
rapid biopsy-to-treatment implementation of its GT-EPIC technology
platform to target cancer neoantigens on a personalized basis.
Geneos is pleased to collaborate with Washington University, a pioneer in developing
neoantigen-targeting therapies, in this first-in-human treatment.
This collaboration highlights some of the key advantages of the
GT-EPIC platform such as the ability to move rapidly into the
clinic to treat cancers and to target upwards of all (30+)
targetable antigens in the patient in a single administration."
The patient's treatment is led by neurosurgeon Dr. Gavin Dunn and medical oncologist Dr.
Tanner Johanns, who treat patients
at Siteman Cancer Center at Washington
University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital. "We partnered with
Geneos to use its technology in building a personalized cancer
vaccine tailored to the mutated proteins found in this patient's
tumor. We were drawn to the speed and versatility of the Geneos
platform, along with its safety record and clinical immunogenicity
data from previous human studies in both cancer and infectious
diseases. Therefore, we approached Geneos about supporting our
effort to make the experimental treatment available to this patient
who otherwise has limited treatment options. We look forward to
expanding this collaboration and evaluating the same technology to
generate personalized neoantigen vaccines for the treatment of
additional tumor types," Johanns said.
Cancer neoantigens – the mutations and genomic changes that
accumulate as tumors develop – have been recognized as important
targets in the development of immune mediated treatments for
cancer. These neoantigens are recognized by the immune system as
being foreign and generate immune responses directed at the cancer.
The GT-EPIC Platform is based on a DNA vaccine platform which
Geneos exclusively licensed from Inovio Pharmaceuticals
(NASDAQ:INO), and allows the company to develop exquisitely
personalized therapies tailored to each patient's unique tumor
mutations. Geneos, along with its collaborators at The Wistar
Institute, recently published preclinical, proof-of-concept animal
model data in the prestigious journal, Cancer Immunology Research,
demonstrating the functional advantages of the Geneos Platform.
For more information on the company, visit www.geneostx.com.
About Geneos Therapeutics' GT-EPIC Neoantigen-Targeting
Platform
Geneos Therapeutics' GT-EPIC Neoantigen-Targeting
Platform is based on a clinically-validated DNA vaccine platform
exclusively licensed from Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:
INO) for use in developing personalized, neoantigen-targeting
immunotherapies. The platform has been used extensively and safely
by Inovio Pharmaceuticals in the clinical treatment of patients
with over 2,000 patients treated and over 6,000 administrations.
The GT-EPIC platform allows Geneos to develop exquisitely
personalized DNA-based therapies tailored to each patient's unique
tumor mutations. The GT-EPIC platform is poised to deliver the
following key advantages: ability to drive potent and broad T cell
immune responses, capability to target an unprecedented number of
neoantigens in a single formulation, and a rapid manufacturing
turnaround time. Geneos believes that these are the three key
differentiators that will drive the company, and the oncology
space, into the next generation of immunotherapies.
About Geneos Therapeutics
At Geneos
Therapeutics, we believe that personalized therapies are the future
of cancer treatment. Our passion is to develop personalized
therapies to unleash the most powerful force against cancer – your
body's own immune system. Our approach is to target unique
neoantigens (abnormal mutations produced by cancer cells) from
individual patient tumors to develop novel treatments for cancer.
Geneos Therapeutics' technology is designed to identify, design,
manufacture, and deliver tumor specific neoantigen-targeted
personalized immunotherapies. We have an experienced management
team with a track record of success in building immunotherapy-based
companies. Geneos, created as a spinout of Inovio Pharmaceuticals,
Inc. (NASDAQ:INO), holds an exclusive license of Inovio's DNA-based
Immunotherapy platform, which has demonstrated in multiple clinical
trials, animal models, and peer-reviewed publications the ability
to elicit a potent and tumor-specific immune response to fight
cancer.
* * *
This press release contains certain forward-looking
statements relating to our business, including our plans to develop
electroporation-based drug and gene delivery technologies and DNA
immunotherapies, our expectations regarding our research and
development programs, including the planned initiation and conduct
of clinical trials and the availability and timing of data from
those trials, and the sufficiency of our capital resources. Actual
events or results may differ from the expectations set forth
herein. There can be no assurance that any product candidate in
Geneos' pipeline will be successfully developed, manufactured or
commercialized, that final results of clinical trials will be
supportive of regulatory approvals required to market licensed
products, or that any of the forward-looking information provided
herein will be proven accurate. Forward-looking statements speak
only as of the date of this release, and Geneos undertakes no
obligation to update or revise these statements, except as may be
required by law.
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SOURCE Geneos Therapeutics, Inc.