Oncolytics Biotech Inc T.ONC

Failure of Roche's IMpassion050 BC study should open door

[Noteable]

Adding monotherapy immune checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab to anti-HER2 (+)  breast cancer treatment does not improve pathological complete response (pCR), according to the primary analysis of the IMpassion050 trial presented on June 17, 2021 during the ESMO Virtual Plenary.

The standard treatment for high-risk, HER2-positive early breast cancer is dual anti-HER2 blockade plus chemotherapy. 

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210618/Combination-of-anti-HER2-breast-cancer-therapy-and-checkpoint-inhibitor-provides-no-benefit.aspx

This Roche/Genentech Phase III failure in HER2+ BC patients should open the door for the combination of atezolizumab + ONCY's oncolytic virus pelareorep in HER2 negative (-) BC that was the focus of the AWARE-1 SOLTI study where low levels of PD-L1 (PD-L1 negative) were converted to high levels of PD-L1 (PD-L1 positive) to facilitate binding with Roche's PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor Tecentriq (ateolizumab).

Key data and conclusions from the ONCY/SOLTI  AACR poster were: 

• Treatment with pelareorep alone or in combination with atezolizumab increased tumor PD-L1 expression and led to the conversion of PD-L1 negative tumors into PD-L1 positive tumors
• Pelareorep profoundly reverses immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments and promotes immune effector cell infiltration into solid tumors, positioning it as an enabling technology for a variety of immunotherapeutic agents
• Tumor-cell specific pelareorep replication was observed in all evaluated patients following intravenous pelareorep administration
• 60% of cohort 2 patients (n=10) saw a CelTIL increase of at least 30% from baseline (pre-pelareorep administration) to surgery (21-days post-administration), exceeding the study's pre-specified success criteria
• 70% of all cohort 1 and 2 patients (n=20) saw an increase in CelTIL from baseline to surgery
• The addition of atezolizumab enhances pelareorep's ability to generate and expand new anti-viral and anti-tumor T cell clones in the tumor and periphery
• Compared to cohort 1, cohort 2 patients had a higher ratio of CD8+ T cells to regulatory T cells, suggesting pelareorep and checkpoint inhibition enhances inflammation within the tumor microenvironment

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/oncolytics-biotech-r-and-solti-achieve-primary-endpoint-in-aware-1-study-871181269.html

[Noteable]

Here is just one post that I first made in June 2021 on ONCY's pelareorep MOA with an immune checkpoint inhibitor - in this case Roche's atezolizumab. Since then we have found out how pelareorep overcomes an hypoxic TME and down regulates the immunosuppressive genes thus converting the TME towards the successful sequential addition of immune checkpoint inhibitiors.  ----------------