IMMUTEP BEGINS CHEMOIMMUNOTHERAPY TRIAL

Immutep announced that its lead product, ImmuFact IMP321, has entered a Phase I chemoimmunotherapy clinical trial in metastatic breast carcinoma. The treatment is a potent natural human T-cell immunostimulatory factor designed to amplify the T-cell immune response.

The design of the study is an open-label, non-randomized, fixed dose-escalation trial assessing IMP321 following paclitaxel.

Chemoimmunotherapy is a new approach to the treatment of cancer. Chemotherapy drugs induce tumor cell apoptosis and cause modulation of the immunological environment combined with a burst of tumor antigen release. The resulting T-cell immune response contributes to the regression of the tumor and may seek out and destroy metastases. However, this initial immune response could be sustained and amplified by a T-cell booster that is nontoxic and could be given repeatedly, like ImmuFact IMP321.