ImmunoCellular Therapeutics’ Antibody Shows Promise In Detecting Pancreatic And Lung Cancer In Serum Test

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. (OTCBB: IMUC), a clinical-stage biotechnology company that is developing immune-based therapies for the treatment of brain and other cancers, announced today results from its pilot study evaluating the cancer detection abilities of one of its lead monoclonal antibody product candidates, ICT-109. Data from this study demonstrated that ICT-109 had a statistically significant ability to discriminate between cancerous and non-cancerous samples, suggesting the potential to detect pancreatic and lung cancer in plasma and serum study sets. The study used reverse phase micro array technology to determine serum and plasma expression levels of glycosylated CEA, and was performed in collaboration with Dr. Emanuel Petricoin at George Mason University. Dr. Petricoin is a renowned microbiologist who was a senior investigator with the US FDA’s Office of Cell Tissue and Gene Therapies in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research earlier in his career. He and his colleague, Lance Liotta, invented the Reverse Phase Protein Microarray technology.

Researchers at George Mason University investigated the ability of ICT-109 to detect pancreatic and lung cancer by binding specifically to glycosylated epitopes of CEA-CAM6 and CEA-CAM5, two common markers that are overly expressed in a majority of cancers. Glycosylated CEA is highly expressed in patients with pancreatic and lung cancers, and can be used to detect these cancers using a direct blood test. Read more

Pancreatic And Colorectal Cancer Novel Antibody Developed From A Vaccine To Begin Phase I Trial

Neogenix Oncology, Inc. (Neogenix) announced that NPC-1C, the company’s first IND (Investigational New Drug Application) was granted permission by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the company to begin a Phase I trial.

NPC-1C is derived from a colorectal cancer vaccine that had previously demonstrated safety and clinical activity in prior human studies. NPC-1C is a novel, monoclonal antibody intended for the treatment of advanced pancreatic and colorectal cancer.

This first human trial will evaluate the safety of NPC-1C in patients with late stage pancreatic or colorectal cancer. Anti-tumor activity has been demonstrated in both in-vitro ADCC assays and in multiple animal studies.

“The approval of our first IND for the initiation of our Phase I trial represents an important milestone toward the development of what could prove to be a breakthrough in cancer diagnostics and therapeutics,” said Neogenix President and Chief Medical Officer, Philip M. Arlen, MD. “This Phase I trial will evaluate NPC-1C in 12-24 patients with pancreatic or colorectal cancer and should provide important additional data regarding the safety and activity of our antibody. We expect the trial to complete enrollment in approximately 6-8 months.”
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