On July 31, 2017 NantKwest Inc. (Nasdaq:NK), a pioneering, next-generation, clinical-stage immunotherapy company focused on harnessing the unique power of the immune system using natural killer (NK) cells to treat cancer, infectious diseases, and inflammatory diseases, reported the final results of a phase I clinical trial of the company’s aNK cell therapy platform in relapsed hematological malignancies (Press release, NantKwest, JUL 31, 2017, http://ir.nantkwest.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=254059&p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=2290212 [SID1234519949]). Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo! The data published in the journal Oncotarget by investigators at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Canada, demonstrated continuing evidence of safety and efficacy, with an overall response rate of 42% and no evidence of grade 3 or 4 adverse events from the infusions. Of note 2 out of the 12 patients in the safety study with relapsed Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and Multiple Myeloma, demonstrated durable complete response with single agent aNK therapy, and remain free of disease to date, 10 years and 2 years respectively.
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"Our study was designed to assess safety and preliminary evidence of efficacy in patients with relapsed, refractory hematological malignancies whose disease recurred after autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (AHCT). In this heavily pretreated patient population that has a particularly poor prognosis, we demonstrated safety with minimal toxicity and showed preliminary evidence of efficacy, taking advantage of the unique properties of natural killer (NK) cells as an immunotherapeutic agent," said Armand Keating, MD, FRCP(C), Director, Cell Therapy Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and University Health Network.
Dr. Keating continued, "In this clinical study completed in 2015 of 12 patients with lymphoma and multiple myeloma who had relapsed after AHCT for refractory/relapsed disease, we report encouraging results with four patients (33%) currently alive and two complete responses, one for over two years and the second for over 10 years and conclude that aNK cell therapy warrants further clinical investigation."
Patrick Soon-Shiong, Chairman and CEO of NantKwest commented, "Consistent with previous studies, Dr. Keating’s clinical trial results, reporting a 42% overall response rate, provide additional clinical validation of the unique potential to deliver long-term remissions with limited toxicity using the company’s novel NK cell therapy. Our aNK cell therapy is currently in an ongoing Phase II clinical study in Merkel cell carcinoma and represent a critical, foundational component in the company’s recently launched NANT Cancer Vaccine clinical trial program."
Dr. Soon-Shiong continued, "We believe our product portfolio of novel off-the-shelf NK cell therapies is unique in offering a more uniform, consistent and optimized product potency with minimal toxicity and we remain focused on translating these unique advantages to patient care as rapidly as possible."
aNK Cell Therapy Platform
NantKwest’s aNK cell therapy platform is being developed as an allogeneic, off-the-shelf therapy, offering a potent, standardized, uniform and consistent product, further optimized to enhance the key capability of natural killer cells to directly target and kill cancer cells. This novel cell therapy is currently in an ongoing Phase II clinical trial in Merkel cell carcinoma and is a critical, foundational component in the company’s recently launch NANT Cancer Vaccine clinical trial program.
About NANT Cancer Vaccine
The NANT Cancer Vaccine is the first combination immunotherapy protocol to orchestrate the delivery of metronomic low dose radiation and chemotherapy with molecularly informed tumor associated antigen vaccines and natural killer cells, to activate the innate and adaptive immune system and to induce immunogenic cell death. By inducing immunogenic cell death and protecting as well as enhancing the innate and adaptive immune system, the NANT Cancer Vaccine seeks to attain long-term sustainable remission of multiple tumor types with lower toxicity and higher efficacy than current standards of care.