Stemline Therapeutics in-licenses Ph I/II brain cancer vaccine to expand pipeline

US clinical stage biopharma company Stemline Therapeutics says that it now holds the license, from the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), for the exclusive worldwide rights to a clinically-active oncology vaccine directed to multiple defined targets on tumor bulk and CSCs.

Developed by Hideho Okada, Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery and his colleagues at Pitt, the vaccine demonstrated safety, tolerability, and anti-tumor activity as a single agent in a Phase I, National Institutes of Health-funded study conducted at Pitt in 22 participants with recurrent high-grade glioma.

According to Dr Okada's research findings, published recently in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the most common grade 1-2 adverse events (AEs) were injection site reactions and fatigue. There were no grade 3 or 4 AEs. The vaccine elicited immune responses in 81% of evaluable patients. A high rate of overall response and disease stabilization was observed in this heavily pre-treated population, including 46% (6/13) in glioblastoma (GBM), and 67% (6/9) in anaplastic glioma (AG).