Lineage Cell Therapeutics Inc (NYSEAMERICAN:LCTX) recently announced favorable preliminary results from its phase 1 clinical study evaluating VAC2 as a potentially viable treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
The phase 1 clinical study showed that VAC2 has a strong ability to provoke immune responses at all the tested dose levels so far. It also demonstrated high peripheral immunogenicity that is antigen-specific as observed at various points in the study. Lineage believes that the findings from the VAC2 clinical study are enough to warrant research on VAC2’s performance as a combination therapy where it will be combined with biologically complementary therapies.
Lineage is already leaning towards the combination therapy approach. It recently exercised its option to secure cancer data from Cancer Research UK. It also plans to continue developing VAC2 while also exploring future opportunities that may leverage the VAC platform. Meanwhile, Cancer Research UK is winding up research on the currently active study.
“Based on review of all available data, the therapy was safe and well-tolerated in all patients. While the safety profile was expected, the immunogenicity data are remarkable and highly provocative,” stated Dr. Christian Ottensmeier, the chief investigator in the VAC2 study.
Lineage is yet to explore radiological responses when patients pursue other treatments after VAC2
Dr. Ottensmeier also added that the Antigen-reactive pentamer data observed during the study is an indicator of the vaccine’s high potency. The vaccine also induced the production of more antigen-specific T cells. Lineage CEO, Brian Culley stated that there was a radiological response in one of the patients in the study who went through chemotherapy after VAC2 treatment. However, researchers have not extensively explored this, thus the observation is anecdotal for the time being.
There have been rare instances where patients experience radiological response when chemotherapy is followed by chemotherapy, thus the need to explore this area further. Dendritic cells are very potent antigen-presenting cells. Their power can be harnessed to deliver information on foreign materials more accurately. This approach can potentially be used to achieve superior therapeutic modes. Lineage plans to further expand VAC2’s development while also exploring other ways of expanding the VAC platform.
