“The percentage of meaningful tumor shrinkage was 32% in Cohort 2, which is double what is available for individuals with pancreatic cancer with traditional chemotherapy. These patients received pembrolizumab and BL-8040, as well as chemotherapy drugs 5-fluorouracil and nano-liposomal irinotecan. Preliminary results of Cohort 2 were reported in the manuscript on a group of 22 patients (out of approximately 40 patients in total expected in the cohort), who had previously received one line of chemotherapy.Previous studies have shown pancreatic tumors to be “cold,” meaning immune therapies like pembrolizumab were not able to act on the cancer. Importantly, it appeared this combination therapy made pancreatic cancer more “hot,” meaning it could work in tandem with the body’s own immune system. Cohort 1, a group of 37 patients whose cancer had already progressed on other therapies, were treated with pembrolizumab and BL-8040.
#HONOR HEALTH TRIAL#
The two-part clinical trial began in September 2016: and across the globe, including Spain, Israel and South Korea.
The study was conducted in Arizona at the HonorHealth Research Institute and at 30 other locations in the U.S. Patients were given pembrolizumab, an immune therapy drug, in combination with BL-8040, an agent that makes the tumor microenvironment more receptive to immune therapy. The “COMBAT trial” (NCT02826486) is a prospective, open label, phase IIa clinical trial for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer, meaning their cancer had spread to other parts of the body. Working with an international team of researchers, HonorHealth Research Institute and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope, were instrumental in one of the first clinical trials showing how pancreatic cancer patients can benefit from immunotherapy, according to a four-year study published in a premier scientific journal, Nature Medicine. Collaborative Center for Translational Mass Spectrometry.