Following INGN 225 treatment and chemotherapy, 62% of evaluable patients demonstrated objective tumor responses. Historically, response rates to second line chemotherapy in this disease range from only 5-25%.
Patients with this type of lung cancer have a dismal prognosis and most live less than six months, but patients on this study survived for almost 12 months, the company said.
“The response rate to INGN 225 in combination with subsequent chemotherapy is significantly higher than expected. This study provides clinical support for an emerging paradigm where the effect of cancer immunotherapy can be substantially enhanced by its combination with chemotherapy,” said co-principal investigator Dr Dmitry Gabrilovich, professor at H Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute.