Encouraging trial results for Prima’s ovarian cancer treatment

Prima BioMed (ASX:PRR) said CVac cancer therapy has demonstrated clear evidence of a T cell response in an ongoing ovarian cancer trial.

The company has published a second set of interim data from the phase II trial, showing a significantly higher T cell activity in CVac patients compared to controls.

Intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) analysis from the first seven patients analysed – including five from the CVac group – also indicates that the activity is specific to the mucin 1 antigen marker CVac targets.

Prima scientific advisory board chairman professor Ian Frazer said the early data provides “clear evidence of a cellular response to mucin 1 induced by CVac treatment.”

Mucin 1 is found in large quantities in most ovarian cancer cells, as well as a range of other cancers. The CVac treatment process involves cultivating and culturing a patient's own dendritic cells and combining them with Mucin-1-MFP.

CAN-003 is an open-label, randomised, multinational trial involving 63 ovarian cancer patients in remission after first or second line chemotherapy. It is designed to help determine how effective CVac can be in these circumstances.

Prima last month published early results from the trial showing an improved progression-free survival time from the CVac group compared to the controls receiving observational standard of care.

The company is also currently conducting a major phase II/III trial of CVac in ovarian cancer, known as CANVAS. The first patient in this study was enrolled in February.

Prima BioMed (ASX:PRR) shares were trading 3.7% higher at 14c as of around 2pm on Wednesday.