Selected immatics press releases for your convenient download
immatics enters Collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to Advance the Development of IMA950 for Glioblastoma
Multi-target therapeutic cancer vaccine IMA950 to enter second clinical phase I study for glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer
Tuebingen, 2 June, 2010 - immatics biotechnologies GmbH, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing advanced therapeutic vaccines that are active against cancer, today announced that it has signed a Clinical Trial Agreement with the Center for Cancer Research (CCR), National Cancer Institute (NCI), USA. The Agreement covers the clinical development of immatics’ therapeutic cancer vaccine IMA950 which is to be evaluated in the field of brain cancer, specifically glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer.
Under the terms of the agreement, CCR will sponsor and conduct a phase I trial of IMA950 which will be carried out at the National Institute of Health’s (NIH’s) Facility in Bethesda, Maryland, U.S. The phase I trial will evaluate IMA950 in stable or recurrence-free glioblastoma patients following standard radiochemotherapy with temozolomide.
The principal investigator of the study is Dr. Howard Fine, Chief of the Neuro-Oncology Branch at the National Cancer Institute. immatics will collaborate with CCR and will also be responsible for drug supply for the study as well as undertaking immunomonitoring of the treated patients.
This collaboration follows an agreement immatics signed with Cancer Research UK in February for the clinical development of IMA950 in glioblastoma. The Cancer Research UK sponsored study will treat newly diagnosed patients with IMA950 in combination with radio-chemotherapy while this study at the NCI will treat patients after successful radio-chemotherapy with standalone IMA950. The different protocols for these two studies should mean that they provide complementary data reflecting the different clinical situations experienced by glioblastoma patients.
Paul Higham, CEO of immatics said: “We are delighted to be collaborating with such a prestigious organization as the National Cancer Institute to help us to develop our third therapeutic vaccine, IMA950. Our ability to secure two such highly regarded collaborators to advance IMA950 into the clinic demonstrates the significant interest in immatics’ novel therapeutic vaccines and the need for a much improved treatment option for glioblastoma. We very much look forward to working with the NCI to further develop IMA950 and to evaluate how it may be of benefit in this devastating disease.”
About IMA950
IMA950 is a therapeutic cancer vaccine generated through immatics’ proprietary XPRESIDENT™ technology. It consists of 11 tumor-associated peptides (TUMAPs) which the immatics platform selected on the basis of their natural presentation by tumor tissue, overexpression in tumor vs. healthy tissue, immunogenicity and their relevance to tumor function. This unique approach to rationally designed therapeutic vaccines which are a combination of multiple, highly relevant tumor peptides is at the core of all immatics’ clinical programs.