Pfizer/Avant candidate may increase survival rate in GBM patients

USA-based Avant and global drug giant Pfizer released new data from two Phase II studies for CDX-110, an investigational immunotherapeutic vaccine that targets the tumor-specific molecule epidermal growth factor receptor variant III, in patients with newly-diagnosed EGFRvIII-positive glioblastoma multiforme tumors.

In the Activate study, median survival time was 26 months and median time-to-progression was 14.2 months. Median survival in a historical matched cohort was 15.2 months with median time-to-progression of 7.13 months. No significant adverse events were seen in this study.

John Sampson, lead author of the study and a neurosurgeon at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, USA, said: "vaccination with CDX-110 together with standard of care temozolomide in patients with GBM increased time to progression and overall survival compared with a matched historical control group in these Phase II studies. This treatment is being further studied in a randomized Phase IIb/III trial to confirm these results."