TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Memgen, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company today announced updated clinical data from its first-in-human study of MEM-288, an oncolytic viral therapy, in patients with advanced/metastatic refractory non-small cell lung cancer. Dr. Andreas Saltos, the lead study investigator at Moffitt Cancer Center, presented the poster presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2023 Annual Meeting in Chicago.
Dr. Saltos noted that “We looked at biopsies and blood samples for patients on the study and see encouraging signs of an anti-tumor immune response being generated. We’ve demonstrated that MEM-288 can powerfully shrink tumors and increase immune response even for patients with stage 4 tumors who had multiple prior treatments.”
This MEM-288 dose-escalation, monotherapy study has now completed patient accrual of fourteen patients with advanced/metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) refractory to standard therapies including anti-PD(L)1.
The study’s primary safety endpoint was achieved with no dose limiting toxicities at any dose level, and no patients stopped treatment due to toxicity. Treatment-related adverse events consisted mostly of mild and transient injection-site reactions and flu-like symptoms.
Four patients had significant shrinkage (range -26% to -54%) of injected lesions, which correlated with strong remodeling of the tumor microenvironment and infiltration of CD8+ T-cells, and significant necrosis and apoptosis of tumor cells measured in tumor biopsies.
Systemic immune activation was clearly noted in multiple patients, with increases in IFN-gamma in the majority of patients as well as increased T-cell clonotype diversity in both tumor biopsies and peripheral blood following MEM-288 treatment.
Two patients have had ongoing durable responses after completing MEM-288 treatment and then receiving salvage chemotherapy. Both had previously relapsed on chemo/immunotherapy prior to MEM-288. One patient has had a complete response greater than 9 months and the other a partial response. Mark Cantwell, Memgen’s CSO, noted, “We continue to follow these patients and implications for expanded avenues to use MEM-288 in combination with multiple therapeutic strategies.”
About Memgen
Memgen is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing potentially life-saving cancer immunotherapies for patients. MEM-288, the Company’s lead cancer product, was developed in an ongoing research partnership with Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL. MEM-288 is an oncolytic adenovirus engineered to both selectively target cancer cells and supercharge the immune system through expression of two unique and powerful immune activators: Memgen's proprietary CD40 ligand (CD40L) and the powerful cytokine interferon beta. MEM-288 generates a strong systemic anti-tumor immune response through dendritic cell activation following intra-tumoral vaccination in multiple tumor types, as shown in a recently published study in the journal Cancer Immunology Research (Cancer Immunol Res 2023;11:466–85). Memgen plans to advance MEM-288 into clinical trials in solid tumors in combinations with checkpoint inhibitors, chemotherapies and targeted therapies.
In this press release, unless the context requires otherwise, “Memgen”, the “Company,” “Companies,” “we,” “our,” and “us” refers to Memgen, Inc.
