Disclaimer: I'm not a scientist.
I was waiting for Neon Therapeutics to release their Phase 1B data for over a month and a half now, and they released it yesterday. Based on what I saw and the reactions from the biotech analysts and other experts the data was not very impressive: from so-so to show me more data. It casts a shadow of concerns about future of the neoantigen therapies for treating/curing cancer. NEON needs to run a head-to-head trial to show if their combo therapy is better than mono (either their drug or Opdivo). PFS rates are not impressive, and the dose levels are really high.
Concurrently, ADXS released an update on their NEO and HOT trials. Not too impressive either. If I were to extrapolate where this NEO/.HOT is going, I'd say it's hardly going to be a cure. Is it going to be better than PD-1/PDL-1 checkpoints? Possibly. But, TIL-based therapies that are currently is the clinics show better results. That's a fact. All the hype from pumping NEO and HOT are just that.
1) the science does not stand still and progressing at a very high speed. What was a breakthrough few years ago, no longer is one. Time waits for no one, and ADXS has been notoriously slow to advance the program to the finish line.
2) It explains a ho-hum reaction to the PR from yesterday. No impressive data ( no PRs, no CRs), and couple this with the NTGN data release and you get the picture.
3) It also partially explains the lack of paying partners for NEO and HOT. The data is not that strong to warrant a partner at this stage.
What a flusterclack.
