Summary :
- Successfully enrolled first-line metastatic pancreatic and third-line metastatic colorectal safety run-ins
- Company moving to full enrollment pending independent safety review
- Multi-center trial being conducted in collaboration with Roche and AIO builds on prior promising data from pancreatic and colorectal cancer trials
Oncolytics Biotech® Inc. (NASDAQ: ONCY) (TSX: ONC) provided an enrollment update on the phase 1/2 GOBLET study in a poster presentation at the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium (ASCO-GI).
The GOBLET study is being managed by AIO, a leading academic cooperative medical oncology group based in Germany, and is designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of pelareorep in combination with Roche’s anti-PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab in patients with metastatic pancreatic, metastatic colorectal, and advanced anal cancers. The study includes three-patient safety run-ins for two of its four cohorts (first-line metastatic pancreatic and third-line metastatic colorectal cancer). Enrollment in these safety run-ins is complete. The study remains ongoing and is expected to enroll patients at 14 clinical trial sites across Germany.
“There is a pressing unmet need for agents that can synergize with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) in gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, as fewer than half of these patients respond to ICI monotherapy,” said Dirk Arnold M.D., Ph.D., Director of Asklepios Tumorzentrum Hamburg, and primary investigator of the GOBLET trial. “These low response rates are driven by immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments, which pelareorep has been shown to reverse in prior clinical studies in GI, breast, and hematological cancers. We thus believe pelareorep can increase the proportion of GI cancer patients responding to checkpoint inhibitors and are seeking to validate this hypothesis in the GOBLET study. We are very pleased with the trial’s progress to date and look forward to its continued advancement.”
Oncolytics Biotech Inc.
The GOBLET study builds on previously reported clinical proof-of-concept data for pelareorep-checkpoint inhibitor combination therapy in pancreatic cancer . It is also supported by prior early clinical data showing that pelareorep-based combination treatments stimulated an adaptive immune response and led to a greater than 90% clinical benefit rate in KRAS-mutated colorectal cancer patient
In addition to evaluating the safety and efficacy of pelareorep-atezolizumab treatment, the study also seeks to demonstrate the potential of CEACAM6 and T cell clonality as predictive biomarkers, which may allow selection of the most appropriate patients in future registration studies and increase their likelihood of success.
A copy of the ASCO-GI poster titled, “GOBLET: A phase 1 / 2 multiple-indication biomarker, safety, and efficacy study in advanced or metastatic gastrointestinal cancers exploring treatment combinations with pelareorep and atezolizumab,” will be available on the Posters & Publications page of Oncolytics’ following the conclusion of the symposium.
About GOBLET
The GOBLET (Gastrointestinal tumOrs exploring the treatment comBinations with the oncolytic reovirus peLarEorep and anTi-PD-L1) study is a phase 1/2 multiple indication study in advanced or metastatic gastrointestinal tumors. The study is being conducted at 14 centers in Germany. The co-primary endpoints of the study are objective response rate (ORR) assessed at week 16 and safety. Key secondary and exploratory endpoints include additional efficacy assessments and evaluation of potential biomarkers (T cell clonality and CEACAM6). The study employs a Simon two-stage design with Stage 1 comprising four treatment groups expected to enroll a total of approximately 55 patients:
- Pelareorep in combination with atezolizumab, gemcitabine, and nab-paclitaxel in 1st line metastatic pancreatic cancer patients (n=12);
- Pelareorep in combination with atezolizumab in 1st line MSI (microsatellite instability)-high metastatic colorectal cancer patients (n=19);
- Pelareorep in combination with atezolizumab and TAS-102 in 3rd line metastatic colorectal cancer patients (n=14); and
- Pelareorep in combination with atezolizumab in 2nd line advanced and unresectable anal cancer patients (n=10).
Any cohort showing an ORR above a pre-specified threshold in Stage 1 may be advanced to Stage 2 and enroll additional patients.
About AIO
AIO-Studien-gGmbH (AIO) emerged from the study center of the internal oncology working group within the German Cancer Society (DKG). AIO operates with a non-profit purpose of promoting science and research with a focus on internal oncology. Since its foundation, AIO has become a successful sponsor and study management company and has established itself both nationally and internationally.
About Gastrointestinal Cancer
Excluding skin cancers, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer, with an estimated 104,270 new cases of colon cancer and 45,230 new cases of rectal cancer expected to be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2021 . Also, for the 2021 year, the American Cancer Society estimates there will be 60,430 new cases of pancreatic cancer and 9,090 new cases of anal cancer in the U.S.
About Oncolytics Biotech Inc.
Oncolytics is a biotechnology company developing pelareorep, an intravenously delivered immunotherapeutic agent. This compound induces anti-cancer immune responses and promotes an inflamed tumor phenotype — turning “cold” tumors “hot” — through innate and adaptive immune responses to treat a variety of cancers.
Pelareorep has demonstrated synergies with immune checkpoint inhibitors and may also be synergistic with other approved oncology treatments. Oncolytics is currently conducting and planning clinical trials evaluating pelareorep in combination with checkpoint inhibitors and targeted therapies in solid and hematological malignancies as it advances towards a registration study in metastatic breast cancer.