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Immutep Reports Positive Final Efficacy Data from TACTI-mel Trial in MelanomaKey Trial Findings
SYDNEY, Australia, Oct. 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Immutep Limited (ASX: IMM; NASDAQ: IMMP) ("Immutep“ or “the Company“), a biotechnology company developing novel immunotherapy treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases, today announces mature positive efficacy data from its TACTI-mel Phase I clinical study combining its lead product candidate, eftilagimod alpha (“efti” or “IMP321”) with KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) in metastatic melanoma. The data will be presented by Dr. Frédéric Triebel, Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Medical Officer of Immutep at the World Immunotherapy Congress as part of the Festival of Biologics 2019 being held in Basel, Switzerland on 15th October 2019. Commenting on the positive results, Dr. Triebel said, “The combination therapy with efti shows very encouraging efficacy signals of synergy with KEYTRUDA along with a favourable safety profile so far in this high-risk patient population. Patients are responding well to the combination treatment, their tumours are shrinking and not growing back over a long follow up period. In addition, we have seen the complete disappearance of all target tumour lesions for six patients plus one patient with a metabolic complete response on the PET-scan. The efficacy data is now final with a long follow up, the safety assessment is ongoing.” Overview of Trial TACTI-mel evaluated the combination of efti with anti-PD-1 therapy KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) in 24 patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma. Patients participating in the trial had a very late stage of disease: 75% classified as M1c (associated with lowest probability of survival), 67% had lung metastasis, 50% had liver metastasis, 50% had elevated LDH (poor prognosis marker) and many had either a suboptimal response or disease progression with pembrolizumab treatment as a monotherapy. All patients received subcutaneous injections of efti every two weeks, with a treatment duration of up to either six or 12 months. TACTI-mel is a multi-centre, open label clinical trial involving four cohorts of six patients per cohort:
The primary endpoint of the trial is safety and tolerability, with the outcome to determine the recommended dose for a Phase II trial. The trial also evaluated efficacy through Overall Response Rate (ORR), tumour shrinkage and Disease Control Rate (DCR).
The key efficacy findings from the trial are:
* Part A: Combination treatment began at cycle 5 of pembrolizumab treatment with patients having suboptimal response to pembrolizumab monotherapy and included a dose escalation of efti. The full presentation is available on the Company’s website at http://www.immutep.com/investors-media/presentations.html About the TACTI-mel clinical trial The TACTI-mel (Two ACTive Immunotherapies in melanoma) Phase I clinical trial is a multicentre, open-label study evaluating the combination of eftilagimod alpha (“efti”) with pembrolizumab, in unresectable or metastatic melanoma patients that have had either a suboptimal response or had disease progression with pembrolizumab monotherapy (clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT 02676869). About Immutep Further information can be found on the Company’s website www.immutep.com or by contacting: U.S. Investors: Garth Russell, LifeSci Advisors Australian Investors/Media: |