SELLAS doses first patient in study of GPS and KEYTRUDA® combination

The trial involves patients diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and colorectal, ovarian, triple negative breast and small cell lung cancers. 

SELLAS Life Sciences Group, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development of cancer immunotherapies to address a varied cancer indications, has reportedly announced the dosing of the first patient for its Phase 1/2 open-label trial of GPS combined with KEYTRUDA, Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, to patients diagnosed with WT1-positive advanced cancers including hematologic and solid tumor malignances.

According to Angelos M. Stergiou, President and CEO at SELLAS, the study facilitates enhancement of safety and activity portfolio of GPS coupled with anti – PD-1 therapies, specifically combined with KEYTRUDA in several malignances, following initial combination clinical data with OPDIVO. Additionally, the WT1 immunotherapeutic, GPS, together with anti PD-1 immunotherapy agents may prove beneficial in the treatment of cancer, he further claimed.

As per a statement by the company, the co-principal investigators of the study are - Richard Maziarz, MD and Medical Director of the Adult Bone Marrow Stem Cell Transplant and Cellular Therapy at Knight Cancer Institute, and Roisin O’Cearbhaill, M.D., the Assistant Attending Physician in Gynecological Medical Oncology Service for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Reportedly, the first clinical data from the study will be available by the first quarter of 2020.

SELLAS Life Sciences Group, Inc. is a biopharma-based company focusing on the cancer immunotherapeutics for a wide range of cancer related symptoms. The company’s leading product, GPS has been licensed from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in the U.S. and attacks the Wilms Tumor 1 protein that is vividly present in numerous types of tumors.

The trial is taking place across 20 states in the U.S. and would involve approximately 90 patients. Initially, the study will evaluate patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer and colorectal cancer followed by patients with acute myeloid leukemia, who cannot undergo stem cell transplant and those who cannot attain deeper morphological response than partial on hypomethylating agents, as well as patients with triple negative breast cancer and small cell lung cancer.

 

Source Credits : https://www.sellaslifesciences.com/investors/news/News-Details/2019/SELLAS-Advances-Galinpepimut-S-GPS-in-Combination-with-KEYTRUDA-pembrolizumab-Program-with-Dosing-of-First-Patient-in-Phase-12-Basket-Study/default.aspx