Glioblastoma Vaccine Shows Promising Results in Phase Ib Clinical Trial– More Than 20 Years in the Making, Autologous Tumor-Based Vaccine with Anti-Sense DNA Oligos Suspends Cancer Growth in Early-Stage Trial—Results Termed “Incredibly Important Advance”

Glioblastoma is the most aggressive type of primary brain cancer, one with a prognosis of 11-15 months with standard treatment. Results from a phase 1b clinical trial of a new experimental glioblastoma vaccine developed by Jefferson Health (https://www.jeffersonhealth.org) and Imvax (https://www.imvax.com/), both in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, show the experimental treatment was tolerated well by patients, slowed tumor recurrence, and prolonged patient survival. The research was presented at an oral session (https://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/6812/presentation/9839)of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2019 annual meeting on March 31, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. The presentation was titled "Results of a Phase Ib Trial of an Autologous Cell Vaccine for Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma." Researchers treated 33 patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) with the novel cancer vaccine (IGV-001) in a prospective phase 1b clinical study and compared outcomes to a historical comparator group of 35 patients treated with standard of care at the same institution. The results showed that patients treated with the vaccine had improved progression-free survival and overall survival compared to the control group treated with standard of care alone. "The response we see in some patients is very encouraging," says David Andrews (https://hospitals.jefferson.edu/find-a-doctor/a/andrews-david-w.html), MD, Professor of Neurosurgery at the Vickie & Jack Farber Institute for Neuroscience -- Jefferson Health (https://hospitals.jefferson.edu/departments-and-services/vickie-and-jack-farber-institute-for-neuroscience.html) and Co-Founder, Chief Medical Officer, and interim Chief Executive Officer of Imvax.