WT1 Vaccine Nears Approval as Second-Line Mesothelioma Treatment

The WT1 vaccine moves closer to becoming the first FDA-approved, second-line treatment for malignant pleural mesothelioma. Kicking off this summer, the phase III clinical trial is expected to build on the recent, impressive success of a phase II trial that helped the vaccine obtain the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s orphan drug designation. “We don’t want to overpromise at this point, but this could be quite exciting,” Dr. Andres Gutierrez, chief medical officer for Sellas Life Sciences Group, the biopharmaceutical company developing the vaccine, told Asbestos.com. “We believe we are on the right track.” The earlier, double-blind placebo-controlled trial included 40 patients with mesothelioma who already had completed first-line, multimodal treatment. Those receiving the WT1 vaccine had a median overall survival of 21.4 months, according to recently published data. Those receiving the placebo had a median overall survival of 16.6 months. The median progression-free survival was 11.4 months for those getting the vaccine, compared to 5.7 months for the control arm. “We believe the vaccine can help prolong control of this disease, prolong survival time,” said Dr. Angelos Stergiou, chairman and chief executive officer at Sellas. “That’s our aim, to establish the beneficial effect through this next trial. This vaccine is well-tolerated and capable of inducing a robust immune response. We’re all very encouraged.” Expecting More Impress...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Research & Clinical Trials Source Type: news