A French biotech company claims its cancer vaccine was effective in reducing the risk of death by 41%. Ose Immunotherapeutics’ Tedopi vaccine has been shown to be effective in reducing the death rate in certain types of lung cancer, the company said in a statement on Monday, cited by Euronews.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in Europe and the US.
The results of a phase 3 clinical trial to assess the vaccine’s therapeutic benefits – the last step before a drug can be marketed – have been published in the journal Annals of Oncology.
The vaccine was given to patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC or adenocarcinoma), the most common type of lung cancer and one that is “usually less responsive to chemotherapy and radiation therapy,” according to the US Cancer Institute.
41% reduction in the risk of death
A total of 219 patients, all of whom showed resistance to other treatments, participated in the study in nine European countries and the United States. There were 139 patients who received the vaccine and 80 who received chemotherapy.
Patients who received Tedopi had a significantly higher survival rate and better quality of life than those who received chemotherapy.
“A significant 41% reduction in the risk of death was observed, associated with an improved tolerance score and maintenance of quality of life,” Professor Benjamin Besse of the Gustave Roussy Institute, lead author of the study, said in a statement.
The Ose Immunotherapeutics vaccine was used in this study as a third-line treatment, meaning patients had already received two other therapies.
“Further evaluation in a second-line treatment of advanced and metastatic NSCLC is clearly warranted to make this cancer vaccine available to hard-to-treat patients with high medical needs,” added Besse.
The Tedopi vaccine is effective in patients with the HLA-A2 gene, which is present in about half the population, according to Ose Immunotherapeutics.
It is given every three weeks initially, then every eight weeks for a year, and then every 12 weeks.
Nicolas Poirier, the company’s CEO, said recent results from various studies “highlighted the promise of this new therapeutic class of vaccines.”
Advances in immunotherapy
Tedopi is a therapeutic cancer vaccine, not a preventive measure.
Therapeutic cancer vaccines aim to train the immune system to specifically recognize and destroy tumor cells. In other words, they use the patient’s own defense system to fight the cancer.
The field of immunotherapy has made considerable progress since the 2010s and has benefited from research during the pandemic, which has “accelerated the production of vaccines, particularly mRNA vaccines”, according to Cancer Research UK.
Several immunotherapy treatments have since been approved, and research is still ongoing.
Earlier this year, the UK government signed a deal with BioNTech to begin cancer vaccine trials, treating up to 10,000 patients by 2030.
According to Market Future Insight, the global cancer vaccine market is expected to be worth €22 billion in 2033, despite the expensive costs of treatments.
The value of Ose Immunotherapeutics shares rose by 60% on the Paris Stock Exchange the day after the study results were announced.
2023-09-13 10:00:47
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