Anixa Advances Breast Cancer Vaccine
Anixa Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: ANIX) has reported positive results from a Phase 1 clinical trial of its breast cancer vaccine for Triple Negative breast cancer (TNBC). Anixa is the exclusive worldwide licensee to the novel breast cancer vaccine technology invented at Cleveland Clinic, the site of the Phase 1 trial.
Dr. Amit Kumar, Chairman and CEO of Anixa Biosciences, said, “The data from our Phase 1 trial to date has exceeded our expectations, and we are pleased with our progress. This vaccine is designed to direct the immune system to destroy TNBC cancer cells through a mechanism that has never previously been utilized for cancer vaccine development. We look forward to reviewing additional data as the trial continues to completion, and we are in the planning stages of the Phase 2/3 studies of this vaccine. Our goal is to initially evaluate the vaccine’s ability to prevent recurrence of cancer in survivors, and continue with extension studies to eventually determine its effectiveness in preventing the initial onset of TNBC.”
Highlights
Anixa’s breast cancer vaccine activates the immune system against a lactation protein, α-lactalbumin, providing preemptive immune protection against emerging breast tumors that express α-lactalbumin. The vaccine also contains an adjuvant that activates an innate immune response, which allows the immune system to mount a response against emerging tumors to prevent them from growing.
“There is a large unmet need for preventing TNBC, an aggressive form of breast cancer with few targeted treatment options available. “We are encouraged by the data gathered to date and look forward to determining the optimal vaccine dose in additional patient cohorts. Our hope is that future studies will demonstrate that the antigen-specific T cell responses we observed translate to the prevention of breast cancer recurrence.”
Anixa and Cleveland Clinic plan to investigate additional intermediate dose levels and continue studying the vaccine’s safety and immunologic effects in two additional patient cohorts. The first cohort is evaluating the combination of the Company’s breast cancer vaccine with Keytruda® (pembrolizumab) in post-operative patients found to have residual disease following neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy, the second cohort will investigate the safety and immunologic effects of the vaccine in patients who are BRCA1, BRCA2, or PALB2 mutation positive and are planning prophylactic risk-reducing mastectomies.
Anixa’s clinical trial is being conducted in collaboration with Cleveland Clinic with funding by a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense.
One in eight women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with an invasive breast cancer at some point in their lives. Approximately 10-15% of those diagnoses are TNBC, however TNBC accounts for a disproportionately higher percentage of breast cancer deaths and has a higher rate of recurrence
About Anixa Biosciences, Inc.
Anixa is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the treatment and prevention of cancer. Anixa’s therapeutic portfolio consists of an ovarian cancer immunotherapy program being developed in collaboration with Moffitt Cancer Center, which uses a novel type of CAR- T, known as chimeric endocrine receptor T-cell (CER-T) technology. The Company’s vaccine portfolio includes a novel vaccine being developed in collaboration with Cleveland Clinic to prevent breast cancer – specifically triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), the most lethal form of the disease – as well as a vaccine to prevent ovarian cancer. These vaccine technologies focus on immunizing against “retired” proteins that have been found to be expressed in certain forms of cancer. Anixa’s unique business model of partnering with world-renowned research institutions on clinical development allows the Company to continually examine emerging technologies in complementary fields for further development and commercialization. To learn more, visit www.anixa.com or follow Anixa on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.
