Targovax presents data at ASCO 2015 in Chicago

Targovax announces today that safety data and immunological results from the ongoing phase I/II clinical study CT-TG01-01, testing the therapeutic cancer vaccine TG01 in combination with gemcitabine in patients with resected pancreatic cancer, will be presented at the poster session on June 1st at the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, May 29 – June 2, 2015 in Chicago.

Background:

CT TG01-01 is a single arm study testing the peptide based cancer vaccine TG01 in combination with gemcitabine for the adjuvant treatment of resected pancreatic cancer. TG01 is a peptide based cancer specific vaccine targeting RAS mutations present in >85% of pancreatic tumors. Today gemcitabine is one of the most frequently used standard of care chemotherapies for resected pancreatic cancer. The primary objectives of the study are to demonstrate safety and induction of anti-cancer TG01 specific immune responses. The main secondary objectives are to assess recurrence-free survival and overall survival up to two years. The study is underway in the UK and Norway.

Contact:

Targovax
Gunnar Gårdemyr,
Chief Executive Officer,
Cell phone: (+41) 798 340 585
E-mail: ggardemyr@targovax.com 

Jonas Einarsson,
Chairman of the Board,
Cell phone: (+47) 48 09 63 55
E-mail: je@radforsk.no 

Facts:

Targovax
Targovax is an Oslo-area based global biotechnology company, dedicated to the design and development of immunotherapy vaccines for patients with RAS-mutated cancers. Established in 2010 by the inventors of this RAS-targeted technology and The Radium Hospital Research Foundation in Oslo, Targovax has over 25 years of direct experience and has seen more than 250 patients treated with this promising technology.

RAS Mutations
Targovax’s technology is RAS cancer cell specific and works by educating the patient’s own immune system to recognize and kill these cancer cells. Mutation of RAS is an early stage in the transformation of a normal cell into a cancer cell and RAS mutations are a key driver of cancer progression and treatment resistance. They are found in up to 30% of all cancers. Few treatment options are available for patients with RAS mutations and have limited efficacy, highlighting a significant unmet medical need for these patients.

Immunotherapy & Targovax Therapeutic cancer vaccines
The Norwegian cancer research community has been at the forefront of learning to understand the mechanisms of immunotherapy in oncology and cancer vaccines. Targovax’s lead therapeutic cancer vaccine, TG01, is given as treatment to patients after surgery, to prevent relapse.

Studies to date have shown that TG01 induces immune responses in cancer patients, which may indicate a survival benefit, and has a favorable safety and tolerability profile with very few side effects. In addition, the technology can be easily combined with other treatment approaches.

Pancreatic cancer and other RAS-mutated cancers
Pancreatic cancer is the twelfth most common cancer in the world, with 338,000 new cases diagnosed in 2012. Outlook for patients with pancreatic cancer is very poor and, despite significant research activity over the last four decades, remains little changed.

With no effective means of screening, early detection or treatment, pancreatic cancer is one of the most rapidly fatal cancers, with a one year survival rate of around 19% and a 5 year survival rate of only 4%.

The only potentially curative treatment for pancreatic cancer is surgery, primarily in cases where the disease is diagnosed in the early stages. However, the risk of relapse of the disease after surgery is very high and only 10% of patients undergoing surgery followed by observation alone are still alive after 5 years and 21% of patients undergoing surgery followed by adjuvant gemcitabine.

RAS mutations are found in over 85% of pancreatic cancers, over 40% of colorectal cancers, between 20 and 30% of non small cell lung cancers and between 20 and 30% of malignant melanomas.