Avid Bioservices Inc (CDMO)

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12-15-15: BioWorld quotes Steve.King in “Immuno-onc Boost” article

12-15-15/BioWorld: “If You Can't Beat 'em, Join 'em; Looking for Immuno-onc Boost”
By Brian Orelli, BioWorld Staff Writer
http://www.bioworld.com/content/if-you-cant-beat-em-join-em-looking-immuno-onc-boost-1
Last week, Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced the failure of 2 phase III evofosfamide trials (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 8, 2015)…
ENHANCING ACTIVITY - Aduro Biotech's CRS-207...
MULTIPLE CHECKPOINTS
Likewise, Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it makes sense to test its drug, bavituximab, with a drug targeting the PD-1 pathway. Bavituximab targets phosphatidylserine, a molecule released during apoptosis that down-regulates the immune cells to keep the immune system from mounting a major response against a few cells that have died.

"Tumors hijack this pathway," Steven King, President & CEO of Tustin, Calif.-based Peregrine told BioWorld Insight. Tumors can outgrow their blood supply causing cells to die, but phosphatidylserine acts as a checkpoint, dampening the immune response against a tumor.

Peregrine is currently testing bavituximab with docetaxel compared to docetaxel alone in SUNRISE, a phase III trial in previously treated NSCLC patients that is scheduled to read out next year.

Earlier this year, Peregrine partnered up with Astrazeneca to test the pharma's anti-PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, durvalumab, with bavituximab, after preclinical data suggested that the combination might help even if tumors don't initially express PD-L1. By removing the phosphatidylserine checkpoint, the immune system is activated, but the tumor can then use PD-L1 to inhibit the immune system. Durvalumab should help perpetuate the bavituximab-induced immune response, while boosting the opportunity for durvalumab in tumors that are not expressing PD-L1 until the bavituximab treatment. "It's sort of a win-win situation," King said.

King said he thinks that bavituximab will likely work with any of the drugs targeting the PD-1 pathway, but decided to work with London-based Astrazeneca rather than one of the FDA-approved drugs, in part, because Astrazeneca was willing to provide the drug free of charge. "We save probably as much as we're spending because of the cost of these drugs," King said.
CHANGING COURSE - Heat Biologics's HS-110...
WE LIKE YOU A LOT - Bavarian Nordic's Prostvac...
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