Country for PR: United States
Contributor: PR Newswire New York
Wednesday, November 06 2019 - 00:00
AsiaNet
Inovio Demonstrates 80% 6-Month Progression-Free Survival In Phase 2 Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) Study with INO-5401 In Combination with PD-1 Inhibitor Libtayo(R) (cemiplimab)
PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pennsylvania, Nov. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

-- 80% of Methylated Patients and 75% of Unmethylated Patients Were Disease 
Progression-Free at 6 Months

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: INO) announced today positive interim 
results from Inovio's Phase 2 study (NCT03491683) of newly diagnosed 
glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) combining Inovio's INO-5401, a T cell-activating 
immunotherapy encoding for three tumor-associated antigens (hTERT, WT1, and 
PSMA), and INO-9012, an immune activator encoding IL-12, in combination with 
Libtayo(R) (cemiplimab), a PD-1 blocking antibody developed by Regeneron 
Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: REGN) in collaboration with Sanofi. The data will be 
featured in a late-breaking poster presentation at the Society for 
Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 2019 Annual Meeting in National Harbor, 
Maryland, November 6-10.

Key interim data from the 52-patient clinical trial showed that 80% (16 of 20) 
of MGMT gene promoter methylated patients and 75% (24 of 32) of unmethylated 
patients were progression-free at six months (PFS6) measured from the time of 
their first dose, substantially exceeding historical standard-of-care data.

This immunotherapy combination with a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor also exhibited 
supportive safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity data and suggested an 
acceptable safety profile consistent with that of Libtayo and Inovio's platform 
technology. The majority of patients tested had a T cell immune response to one 
or more tumor-associated antigens encoded by INO-5401. Immune responses to all 
three tumor-associated antigens were demonstrated in this study. Inovio plans 
to report 12- and 18-month overall survival data next year. 

Dr. David Reardon, M.D., Coordinating Principal Investigator of the study and 
the Clinical Director for Neuro-Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 
said, "This innovative trial provides promising information that the 
combination of INO-5401 plus INO-9012, a T cell-promoting therapy, combined 
with Libtayo, a checkpoint inhibitor, may provide clinically meaningful benefit 
in this very difficult to treat disease."

Dr. J. Joseph Kim, Inovio's President & CEO, said, "Our new data demonstrates 
the potential of our immunotherapies utilizing tumor-associated antigens in 
cancer treatments. Our goal in this GBM trial is to increase progression-free 
and overall survival of patients facing a disease where neither the standard of 
care nor clinical outcomes have significantly advanced in decades. Previously, 
other checkpoint inhibitor treatment alone in GBM trials did not show any 
meaningful clinical benefit over standard of care. However, the addition of 
INO-5401 and its ability to generate antigen-specific T cells demonstrated 
early efficacy signals in progression-free survival. We look forward to 
reporting additional data including overall survival at months 12 and 18 from 
the trial in the coming year."

Poster Details

Poster 858: An Open-Label, Multi-center Trial of INO-5401 and INO-9012 
Delivered by Electroporation (EP) in Combination with Cemiplimab in Subjects 
with Newly-Diagnosed Glioblastoma (GBM)
Category: Late-Breaker
Date/Time: Friday, Nov. 8th, 12:30 – 2 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 9th 12:35 – 2:05 
p.m. 
Location: Displayed in the Potomac Foyer (outside the Plenary session room, 
Potomac Ballroom)
 
Study Design 

The trial was designed to evaluate safety, immunogenicity and preliminary 
efficacy of INO-5401 and INO-9012 in combination with Libtayo, with radiation 
and chemotherapy, in subjects with newly-diagnosed glioblastoma (GBM). This is 
a Phase 1/2, open-label, multi-center trial conducted in 52 evaluable patients 
with GBM. There were 2 cohorts in this trial. Cohort A were participants with a 
tumor with an unmethylated O6-methylguanine-deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) 
methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter. Cohort B included participants with a tumor 
with a MGMT methylated promoter or who have indeterminate MGMT status. Both 
cohorts received INO-5401 and INO-9012 and Libtayo at the same doses and on the 
same dosing schedule, and both cohorts received radiation and temozolomide 
(TMZ), if clinically indicated. Interim data presented here and at SITC was 
obtained as of October 2019 and final study data is expected in Q4 2020. For 
more information of the clinical study, see www.clinicaltrials.gov, identifier 
NCT03491683.

About Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM)

GBM is the most common and aggressive type of brain cancer and remains a 
devastating disease for both patients and caregivers. Its prognosis is 
extremely poor, despite a limited number of new therapies approved over the 
last 10 years. The median overall survival for patients receiving standard of 
care therapy is approximately 15 months and the median progression-free 
survival is approximately 7 months. In the U.S., the estimated annual incidence 
of GBM is 11,362 cases or 3.21 cases per 100,000 persons and the median age at 
diagnosis is 65 years. 

About INO-5401 and INO-9012

INO-5401 encodes for Inovio's SynCon(R) antigens for hTERT, WT1, and PSMA, and 
has the potential to be a powerful cancer immunotherapy in combination with 
checkpoint inhibitors. The National Cancer Institute previously highlighted 
hTERT, WT1, and PSMA among a list of important cancer antigens, designating 
them as high priorities for cancer immunotherapy development. These three 
antigens were reported to be over-expressed, and often mutated, in a variety of 
human cancers, and targeting these antigens may prove efficacious in the 
treatment of patients with cancer. INO-9012 encodes for IL-12, which is a T 
cell immune activator. 

About Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 

Inovio is an innovative biotechnology company focused on the discovery, 
development, and commercialization of its synthetic DNA technology targeted 
against cancers and infectious diseases. Inovio's proprietary technology 
platform applies antigen sequencing and delivery to enable in vivo protein 
expression, which can activate potent immune responses to targeted diseases. 
The technology has been demonstrated to consistently activate robust and fully 
functional T cell and antibody responses against targeted cancers and 
pathogens. Inovio's most advanced clinical program, VGX-3100, is in Phase 3 
development for the treatment of HPV-related cervical pre-cancer. Also in 
development are Phase 2 immuno-oncology programs targeting HPV-related cancers 
and GBM, as well as externally funded platform development programs in Zika, 
MERS, Lassa, and HIV. Partners and collaborators include ApolloBio Corporation, 
AstraZeneca, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Coalition for Epidemic 
Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, 
GeneOne Life Science, HIV Vaccines Trial Network, Medical CBRN Defense 
Consortium (MCDC), National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, 
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, , Regeneron, 
Roche/Genentech, the University of Pennsylvania, Walter Reed Army Institute of 
Research and The Wistar Institute. For more information, visit www.inovio.com.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to our 
business, including our plans to develop DNA-based 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. Actual events or results may differ from the 
expectations set forth herein as a result of a number of factors, including 
uncertainties inherent in pre-clinical studies, clinical trials and product 
development programs, the availability of funding to support continuing 
research and studies in an effort to prove safety and efficacy of 
electroporation technology as a delivery mechanism or develop viable DNA 
vaccines, our ability to support our pipeline of SynCon(R) active immunotherapy 
and vaccine products, the ability of our collaborators to attain development 
and commercial milestones for products we license and product sales that will 
enable us to receive future payments and royalties, the adequacy of our capital 
resources, the availability or potential availability of alternative therapies 
or treatments for the conditions targeted by us or our collaborators, including 
alternatives that may be more efficacious or cost effective than any therapy or 
treatment that we and our collaborators hope to develop, issues involving 
product liability, issues involving patents and whether they or licenses to 
them will provide us with meaningful protection from others using the covered 
technologies, whether such proprietary rights are enforceable or defensible or 
infringe or allegedly infringe on rights of others or can withstand claims of 
invalidity and whether we can finance or devote other significant resources 
that may be necessary to prosecute, protect or defend them, the level of 
corporate expenditures, assessments of our technology by potential corporate or 
other partners or collaborators, capital market conditions, the impact of 
government healthcare proposals and other factors set forth in our Annual 
Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, our Quarterly Report 
on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2019, and other filings we make 
from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. There can be no 
assurance that any product candidate in our pipeline will be successfully 
developed, manufactured or commercialized, that final results of clinical 
trials will be supportive of regulatory approvals required to market 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 we undertake no obligation to update or revise these statements, except as 
may be required by law.

CONTACTS: 

Investors:    
Ben Matone 
484-362-0076 
ben.matone@inovio.com

Media:          
Jeff Richardson 
267-440-4211 
jrichardson@inovio.com 

SOURCE: Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
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