During the 51st Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) a research team led by Alex A. Adjei, MD, PhD, FACP, of Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) will present data from a study on the anticancer properties of a new drug named entolimod.
The results validate that the preclinical findings indicating the drug, derived from salmonella flagellin, should be further examined for the treatment of common and resilient solid-tumors, such as colorectal cancer.
Entolimod, the drug candidate leading the porfolio of Buffalo-based Cleveland BioLabs Inc., is able to activate a receptor named toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5), which belongs to a family of proteins that produce immune responses against cancer.
During the ASCO meeting data relative to this phase I clinical trial will be presented by Hatoon Bakhribah, MD, a Drug Development Fellow in Roswell Park’s Department of Medicine. Dr. Bakhribah and his research team assessed the drug tolerability, safety, immunoactivity, pharmacokinetics, and preliminary antitumor efficacy in patients with non-small-cell lung, colorectal, anal and urothelial bladder cancers.
From the total patient population (n=26), 8 patients had their condition stable for more than six weeks after treatment with the agent, and 3 patients maintained their condition stable for more than 12 weeks.
The results revealed that in patients with an advanced stage of their disease drug tolerability profile was identical to the one seen in a group of 150 healthy volunteers who received entolimod in an identical dose.
These new findings validate the results from preclinical studies indicating that the drug should be further examined as an immunotherapeutic anticancer agent. “Our findings are encouraging, as they suggest that entolimod can be safely combined with other chemotherapeutic, targeted or immunotherapeutic agents as treatment for advanced and very hard-to-treat cancers,” noted in a recent news release Dr. Adjei, who is Senior Vice President of Clinical Research and the Katherine Anne Gioia Chair in Cancer Medicine at Roswell Park. “We’ve identified a recommended dosing schedule for future studies.”
