While no one can tell the future, a panel of autoantibodies developed by researchers at New York University Grossman School of Medicine and Perlmutter Cancer Center may give physicians a much better idea about how a patient will respond to immunotherapy. That could help improve therapy selection by accurately predicting whether a patient’s cancer will recur following immunotherapy or they will experience autoimmune side effects as a result of treatment, a study published in Clinical Cancer Research on Sept. 15 found.
Scientifically at least, the biggest story coming out of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2022 Congress is the success of cell therapy in solid tumors. “During this ESMO, there is a lot of novelty coming from T-cell therapies,” John Haanen told the audience at his joint keynote speech with Ton Schumacher – so much so that Haanen and Schumacher, both group leaders at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, left antibodies out of their keynote session in order to do justice to the advances in cell therapies.
Scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research in London have discovered that melanoma cells spread by harnessing a gene normally involved in the development of the nervous system.
The U.S. FDA has proposed to down-classify optical diagnostic devices and electrical impedance spectrometers from class III to class II, but there was little support for such a change in the first day of a two-day advisory hearing. The panelists saw the risk of a false negative for melanoma as too high to allow such devices to go through the 510(k) program, and thus manufacturers of these devices may continue to be required to file PMAs, replete with costly studies and long timelines to approval.
The U.S. FDA reported a proposed down-classification for two device types intended for detection of melanoma, a move that would ease the premarket path for similar devices. The agency noted that it has received only one PMA application each for optical diagnostic devices and electrical impedance spectrometers, which suggests the agency sees these device types as suffering for want of interest on the part of device makers.
New data from the phase I study of Ultimovacs ASA’s lead candidate showed positive two-year overall survival data for the cancer vaccine. UV-1, combined with the checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda (pembrolizumab, Merck & Co. Inc.) for treating malignant melanoma, demonstrated a 24-month survival rate of 73% in all 30 patients in the study.
Researchers have long known that the developmental regulator WNT5A plays a role in the dissemination of tumor cells. Now, investigators from Johns Hopkins University have discovered that its suppression plays a role in the growth of metastases after a period of dormancy as well.
Phase II melanoma data characterized by Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc. as positive failed to excite Wall Street, which took away 53.6% of the company’s share value (NASDAQ:IOVA), or $8.10, and pushed the closing price to $7.02 on May 27. The San Carlos, Calif.-based firm offered results from registrational cohort 4 (n=87) of the C-144-01 study testing lifileucel (LN-144, autologous tumor infiltrating lymphocytes) in advanced melanoma.
