RE:RE:“Second mouse gets the cheese “Obviously this requires reposting .....
>>> Another problem was that researchers didn’t understand how oncolytic viruses worked.
Now other candidate oncolytic viruses may soon get their chance.
An avenue to improve oncolytic viruses is pairing them with other immune therapies or with chemotherapy and radiation. Checkpoint inhibitors are obvious partners because they stymie tumors’ mechanisms for shutting down T cells. The company Oncolytics Biotech has performed two successful phase 2 trials of a tumor-attacking reovirus, combined with various types of chemotherapy and checkpoint inhibitors, in patients with breast cancer or pancreatic cancer. The company hopes to begin phase III trials of the virus for both cancer types as soon as 2024.
CG Oncology’s virus also performs well with pembrolizumab, a phase 2 study showed in 2022. A year after the treatment, tumors still hadn’t returned in 68% of bladder cancer patients. Pembrolizumab alone in this group usually eliminates tumors only in about 20% of patients, says urologic oncologist Roger Li of the Moffitt Cancer Center, who headed the trial and took part in the other CG Oncology study.
The many clinical trial failures frustrated researchers, but also paid off by convincing scientists and regulators that oncolytic viruses are safe, Immunologist Jianhua Yu of City of Hope says. Now, he and others are eager to show that they are potent as well. “They can have major impact,” McFadden says. <<<