A vaccine developed at Buffalo, N.Y.-based Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center extended median survival by four months among glioblastoma patients 65 and younger.
Roswell Park researchers and MimiVax, a biotech company spun out of the cancer center, tested the SurVaxM vaccine alongside standard treatment in a phase 2b trial to evaluate whether it improved survival. The trial enrolled 233 patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma at 11 U.S. cancer centers, according to an Oct. 7 news release.
Here are five notes on the trial:
- Median overall survival across all patients was 22.8 months in the vaccine group and 20.3 months in the placebo group.
- Among patients 65 and younger, median overall survival was 24.2 months in the vaccine group and 20.2 months in the placebo group. In the same age group, 44% of vaccine recipients and 24% of placebo recipients had not seen their cancer progress at 12 months.
- About 42% of vaccine recipients 65 and younger and 18% of placebo recipients survived at least 30 months. None of the vaccine recipients died between 30 and 54 months.
- Patients in the placebo group lived a median of 20.3 months, longer than the 16 months researchers had projected from past data. According to the release, that stronger result was part of why the survival gain across all ages did not reach statistical significance.
- MimiVax plans to meet with the FDA to discuss breakthrough therapy designation and accelerated approval. The agency granted the vaccine orphan drug designation for glioblastoma in 2017 and fast track designation for newly diagnosed glioblastoma in 2023.
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