Personalized Vaccine Shows Protective Benefit Against Disease Recurrence in High-Risk Melanoma

Source: Specialty Pharmacy Times, September 2019

A personalized therapeutic cancer vaccine being developed by Elios Therapeutics for patients with high-risk melanoma demonstrated positive results in a phase 2b clinical trial, according to a press release.

The tumor lysate, particle-loaded, dendritic cell (TLPLDC) vaccine was evaluated for efficacy and safety in patients with stage 3 and 4 resected melanoma. Because of the high early recurrence rate seen in patients with high-risk melanoma and the time needed for vaccines to activate the immune system, the pre-specified primary efficacy analysis was performed in the intent-to-treat (ITT) and the per treatment (PPT) population as co-primary analyses.

The TLPLDC vaccine is developed from a patient’s tumor and blood to deliver personalized protection once administered. The vaccine is designed to administer the patient’s complete repertoire of tumor antigens to the immune system to activate fighter T cells and trigger the immune system to destroy cells containing specific antigen and mutations from the patient’s tumor, according to Elios.