On April 18, 2017 Lion Biotechnologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: LBIO), a biotechnology company developing novel cancer immunotherapies based on tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) technology, reported that a publication in the journal Science provided new translational data from a clinical trial of TIL therapy for the treatment of advanced metastatic cervical cancer conducted at the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) (Press release, Lion Biotechnologies, APR 18, 2017, View Source [SID1234518616]). This trial has been supported in part by Lion under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Dr. Steven Rosenberg, Chief of the Surgery Branch, National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health. Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo! "Based on the encouraging data we have seen thus far for TIL therapy in this indication, we have initiated a Phase 2 trial of Lion’s TIL therapy in metastatic cervical cancer to investigate the responses seen in the NCI trial in a larger number of cervical cancer patients. However, patient selection in our ongoing Phase 2 trial is not limited by the presence of HPV, as the study is designed to allow a broader patient population to be enrolled," said Maria Fardis, PhD, MBA, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lion Biotechnologies.
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Data from the NCI clinical trial was previously presented at the 2014 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Annual Meeting. These data indicated that a single infusion of TIL therapy generated two complete and durable remissions, ongoing at 15 and 22 months at the time of presentation. A third patient was reported to have achieved a partial three-month response with a 39% reduction in tumor volume.
The new translational study published in Science further evaluated the two patients with ongoing complete remissions. These data demonstrated that the antitumor activity of these patients’ TIL targeted both viral and non-viral tumor antigens.
Dr. Christian Hinrichs, the lead investigator of the trial at NCI’s Center for Cancer Research (CCR) said, "Our research shows the importance of not only viral but also non-viral antigens in immunotherapy for cervical cancer. These findings have important implications for how we design and study new treatments for this disease."