Esophageal cancer is a difficult to treat disease, and only modest progress has been made in patient survival post-diagnosis during the past decade. In the study, 24 patients with locally advanced, resectable esophageal cancer were treated prior to surgery with chemotherapy, radiation, and TNFerade injections.
After one year, 88% of the phase II study patients were alive, which compares favorably with the average one-year survival of 52% reported in six comparable recent studies.
The two-year survival percentage for all dosage levels of TNFerade combined is currently 73%, with follow-up continuing. The average two-year survival percentage reported in five comparable recent studies was 33%.
The median survival point for all patients in GenVec’s study has not yet been reached, with follow-up ranging from 16 to 34 months.
“TNFerade has been tested in a wide variety of cancers and continues to show promising indications of activity even in some of the more difficult to treat solid tumors such as esophageal and pancreatic cancer,” said Dr Thomas Davis, GenVec’s chief medical officer.
GenVec is currently conducting a multi-center phase II trial with TNFerade in locally advanced pancreatic cancer, a phase II trial in rectal cancer in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute, and a phase II trial in metastatic melanoma.