Positive results of Phase II trial of Prophage vaccine in Brain Cancer-Agenus

Final results from a single-arm, multi-institutional, open-label, Phase II study show that patients with newly diagnosed Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) who received Prophage autologous cancer vaccine, from Agenus, added to the standard of care treatment, lived nearly twice as long as expected. In this study, 50% of the patients lived for two years (vs 26% of patients alive at 24 months after standard care in other studies). Prophage patients demonstrated a median overall survival of approximately 24 months and 33% of patients remain alive at 2 years and continue to be followed for survival.

In addition to the long-term survival data, vaccine treated patients had a median progression-free survival (PFS) of nearly 18 months, approximately two to three-times longer than patients treated with radiation and temozolomide alone. Importantly, 22% of patients were alive and without progression at 24 months and continue to be followed for survival. Data suggests that the response to Prophage seems to be more pronounced in those patients with less expression of the checkpoint ligand PDL-1 on the white blood cells, suggesting that combinations of Prophage with checkpoint modulators like PD-1 antagonists might make Prophage even more effective in a greater percentage of patients with GBM.