WT1 Vaccine Doubles PFS in Phase II Trial

Results from a phase II trial of the WT1 cancer vaccine in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma showed improved overall survival and a doubling of progression-free survival.

The trial showed a median overall survival of 21.4 months for WT1 vaccine-treated patients versus a median 16.6 months overall survival for patients in the placebo control arm. The vaccine also resulted in a median progression-free survival of 11.4 months compared to 5.7 months with placebo.

The study data were presented at the plenary session of the iMig 2016 Conference in Birmingham, U.K. The WT1 vaccine (galinpepimut-S), developed by SELLAS Life Sciences Group, is a cancer immunotherapy being developed to target hematologic cancers and solid tumors, including MPM, acute myeloid leukemia, multiple myeloma, ovarian cancer and others. The randomized, double-blind, phase II trial is being conducted at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and MD Anderson Cancer Center.