Full Press Release Details
Biosciences and Cleveland Clinic Present New Updated Positive Data from Phase 1 Study of Breast Cancer Vaccine at the 39th Society for
Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting
| Data continues positive trend as additional patients are enrolled in 3 cohorts | |
| Vaccine was safe and well tolerated by participants in all 3 cohorts | |
| Protocol defined immune responses were exhibited in over 70% of patients | |
| A Phase 2 study evaluating the vaccine in the neoadjuvant setting is planned to commence in 2025 |
JOSE, Calif., November 8, 2024 - Anixa Biosciences, Inc. ("Anixa" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: ANIX), a biotechnology
company focused on the treatment and prevention of cancer, today announced a presentation of new, updated positive data from the Phase
1 clinical trial of its breast cancer vaccine (NCT04674306) at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 39th Annual Meeting, being
held in Houston, Texas. The trial is being conducted in collaboration with Cleveland Clinic with funding by a grant from the U.S. Department
of Defense. The presentation, titled "Phase I Trial of alpha-lactalbumin vaccine in high-risk operable triple negative breast cancer
(TNBC) and patients at high genetic risk for TNBC," was presented by Dr. Emily Rhoades, FDA/IND Trial Program Manager at Cleveland
negative breast cancer is the form of the disease for which we have the least effective treatments," said G. Thomas Budd, M.D.
of Cleveland Clinic's Cancer Institute and principal investigator of the Phase 1 study. "Long term, we are hoping that this
can be a true preventive vaccine that would be administered to individuals who are cancer-free to prevent them from developing this highly
aggressive disease."
are pleased with the data we have observed in this clinical trial. The data continues to exceed our expectations. As we near completion
of the Phase 1 trial, with the very positive data to date, we are planning a Phase 2 study which is expected to commence in 2025,"
stated Dr. Amit Kumar, Chairman and CEO of Anixa Biosciences. "We want to thank all of the participants in this trial and also
the extensive group of scientists and physicians (19 are listed as co-authors of the SITC presentation) who have worked on this study,
along with the numerous additional personnel including nurses, pharmacists, phlebotomists and others who have provided support."
investigational vaccine is based on decades of groundbreaking pre-clinical research led by the late Vincent Tuohy, Ph.D., who was the
Mort and Iris November Distinguished Chair in Innovative Breast Cancer Research at Cleveland Clinic's
Lerner Research Institute. Dr. Tuohy's research led to the development of this investigational vaccine. The study is based
on Dr. Tuohy's research that showed that activating the immune system against -lactalbumin was safe and effective in preventing
breast tumors in mice. The research, originally published in Nature Medicine, was funded in part by philanthropic gifts
to Cleveland Clinic from more than 20,000 people over the last 12 years.
vaccine was developed at Cleveland Clinic and licensed to Anixa Biosciences. Cleveland Clinic is entitled to royalties and other commercialization
revenues from the Company.
was Dr. Tuohy's hope that this vaccine would demonstrate the potential of immunization as a new way to control breast cancer, and
that a similar approach could someday be applied to other types of malignancy," said Dr. Budd.
of the Breast Cancer Vaccine
vaccine targets a lactation protein, -lactalbumin, which is only expressed in the breast when a woman is lactating but not at
other times in her life or in other tissues. However, when a woman develops breast cancer, including TNBC or other types of breast cancer,
many of the malignant cells will express -lactalbumin. Activating the immune system, through vaccination, to direct cytotoxic
T cells to the tumor cell expressing this protein may provide preemptive immune protection against emerging breast tumors that express
Phase 1 data was presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December 2023. The synopsis below summarizes the additional
findings which were presented today at the SITC 39th Annual Meeting.
The trial is recruiting patients into three cohorts. Below is a description of each cohort as well as a summary of
the key results and conclusions to date.
1a participants: The patients enrolled are women who, within the previous three years, have completed standard of care (SOC) treatment,
including surgery, for TNBC, the most lethal type of breast cancer. The study is evaluating the safety and tolerability of the vaccine,
characterizing immune responses, and identifying a maximum tolerated dose (MTD).
Results: All three goals noted above have been achieved, in a group of 21 patients in this cohort. While the MTD has been successfully
identified, additional dosages are being evaluated to confirm the MTD. In all patients at the current MTD, the vaccine was safe, producing
no flu-like symptoms such as fever and myalgias, no abnormal clinical laboratory tests, or other observed adverse side effects. The only
notable side effect was injection site irritation. The majority of patients exhibited protocol defined immune responses of -lactalbumin
specific T cell induced interferon gamma and interleukin-17.
1b participants: The patients enrolled are women who carry mutations in their BRCA1, BRCA2, or PALB2 genes that place them at high
risk of developing breast cancer, which is frequently TNBC. These women have chosen to have prophylactic mastectomies to reduce their
risk of breast cancer. These participants were vaccinated prior to their surgeries, after which they were monitored for safety and immune
responses. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis will be performed on their resected breast tissue to evaluate their healthy breast tissue
to determine if there are micro-foci of lactational cells, inflammation in the area of those foci and the presence of micro-tumors.
Results: Three women have been enrolled in this cohort to date. The safety and tolerability of the vaccine were similar to that in
Cohort 1a. Enrollment of additional patients in this cohort is ongoing. The IHC analysis is ongoing and will be presented in a future
scientific presentation.
1c participants: The patients enrolled in this group are women diagnosed with TNBC who have completed SOC, including surgery, and
are receiving pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in the adjuvant, post-surgery setting. Since Keytruda, a checkpoint inhibitor, is already a powerful
immunotherapy with its own side effect profile, one of the primary goals of this cohort is to evaluate whether the administration of
the vaccine in combination with Keytruda causes intolerable side effects. Immune responses are also being monitored in these participants.
Results: Three women have been enrolled in this cohort to date. Most notably, there were no major adverse side effects when the combination
of vaccine and Keytruda were administered. As with the patients in cohorts 1a and 1b, the primary adverse side effect was injection site
irritation. One patient exhibited a Grade 3 adverse event, which was a greater amount of irritation at one injection site. This patient
had been diagnosed with breast cancer while she was pregnant, and she had recently lactated when the vaccine was administered. The trial
protocol is being amended to provide for a six-month delay after lactation before a patient can be vaccinated. Similar to the patients
enrolled in cohort 1a, the participants in this trial also exhibited antigen-specific T cell immune responses as hoped. Now that antigen-specific
T cell responses have been confirmed in women receiving Keytruda and the vaccine, with no major side effects, the data provide the confidence
to plan a Phase 2 study in the neoadjuvant setting with newly diagnosed breast cancer patients.
the trial results to date have been very positive, the planned Phase 2 trial will enroll newly diagnosed breast cancer patients undergoing
neoadjuvant treatment. Patients will be randomized in a one-to-one ratio, to receive either the standard of care, as defined by NCCN
guidelines, alone or the vaccine plus standard of care. The important endpoints in this study will include characterization of T and
B cell immune responses and repertoires, pathologic complete response and safety. Utilizing the vaccine in this type of setting will
enable us to determine the effect within months for individual patients. The presence of a control group will allow us to determine efficacy
in this setting. Assuming the trial data continues to be positive, such a trial may enable a quicker route to a strategic relationship
with a large pharmaceutical partner for commercialization," stated Dr. Kumar.
poster presented at SITC can be viewed at https://ir.anixa.com/events.
more information and eligibility requirements visit clinicaltrials.gov.
Anixa Biosciences, Inc.
is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the treatment and prevention of cancer. Anixa's therapeutic portfolio consists
of an ovarian cancer immunotherapy program being developed in collaboration with Moffitt Cancer Center, which uses a novel type of CAR-T,
known as chimeric endocrine receptor-T cell (CER-T) technology. The Company's vaccine portfolio includes vaccines being developed
in collaboration with Cleveland Clinic to treat and prevent breast cancer and ovarian cancer, as well as additional cancer vaccines to
address many intractable cancers, including high incidence malignancies in lung, colon, and prostate. These vaccine technologies focus
on immunizing against "retired" proteins that have been found to be expressed in certain forms of cancer. Anixa's unique
business model of partnering with world-renowned research institutions on all stages of development allows the Company to continually
examine emerging technologies in complementary fields for further development and commercialization. To learn more, visit www.anixa.com
or follow Anixa on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.
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