What I am most curious about is the change in TIL numbers, specifically the exhausted phenotypes, following combo treatment. I hope they present these data in the coming year for the current phase 2 metastatic melanoma trial. Moreover, it would be interesting to see if the responder/non-responder data align with the UCSF biomarker studies. These are data we did not see at SITC.
I think the anti-pd-1 non-responder approach is in fact a great way for the company to garner some much-needed attention. Truly, what options do metastic melanoma patients have if they fail anti-pd-1 monotherapy, currently the gold standard for this indication?
I am encouraged by what I have seen so far with their melanoma results. The response durations and level of responses, i.e. complete responders, suggests to me that the treatment is definitely priming patients for checkpoint inhibitor use and they are essentially creating clinically effective in-situ vaccines as demonstrated by response durations. You simply do not see these types of responses in monotherapy anti-pd-1 data. And, you don't see as many complete responses even in combination treatments among all-comers.