Oncolytics Biotech Inc T.ONC

ONCY's AWARE-1 biomarkers - ahead of next wave of IO therapy

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Investigators Prepare for the Next Wave of Immunotherapy Advances

October 28, 2021
  Researchers prepare for the next wave of immunotherapy advances with the development and validation of liquid biopsies designed not only for initial diagnosis, but also for the repeated evaluation of a treatment’s initial and ongoing efficacy, which confirms ONCY's clinical work with pelareorep in the AWARE-1 study.

Further to the above, liquid biopsies have other key advantages: They are cheaper, less painful for the patient, and take less time to analyze. Thus, they may be performed repeatedly and, in some cases, be used to determine both initial response to a treatment and when resistance begins to develop. 

Another potential use for liquid biopsies is early cancer detection, but tests developed to date are not sensitive enough to support such usage in NSCLC, according to current treatment guidelines.

Also, “There is recent evidence suggesting that the presence of immune-related AEs [irAEs] in patients that receive immunotherapy may be related to better outcomes,” according to Charu Aggarwal MD who serves as Leslye M. Heisler Associate Professor for Lung Cancer Excellence at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia. “It seems that this effect may depend on the grade of AE, although the research remains preliminary, but at least what we have now suggests that grade 2 and 3 AEs may actually be better in terms of predicting an improved outcome to immunotherapy, which I think is very interesting. It’s sort of reminiscent of the old days when we used to look at things like a rash from an EGFR inhibitor that would tell us that the drug is working.”

All good for ONCY's clinical work with pelareorep both from being an effective therapeutic agent that synergizes immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) AND now having a liquid biospy diagnostic that can repeatedly measure and evaluate pelarreorep + ICI's combination treatment’s initial and ongoing efficacy.  

ONCY's AWARE-1 biomarker study prefaces ONCY's Phase 2 BRACELET-1 study which in-turn leads into ONCY's Phase 3 registration study in metastatic breast cancer - thus providing clinicians with both the therapeutic combination of peareorep + immune checkpoint inhibitor AS WELL AS a liquid biopsy tool to measure the efficacy of the referenced combination.

https://www.onclive.com/view/investigators-prepare-for-the-next-wave-of-immunotherapy-advances