Breast Cancer Awareness Month Arrives With New Teamwork From Biotech Developers on the Way

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- USA News Group – As October rolled in to welcome the 35^th annual Breast Cancer Awareness Month, hope remains alive as new drugs continue to develop from the biotech sector. These include the smaller cap developers such as Oncolytics Biotech Inc. (NASDAQ:ONCY) (TSX:ONC) and Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:INFI), who are working with majors such as Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE), Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK), and Roche Holding AG (OTC:RHHBY) with their already-approved drugs to improve lives and chances for survival.

While October accrues valuable awareness through high-profile marketing campaigns with large amounts of visibility such as the NFL, or on the roads with major trucking companies, it's on the front lines where the true battle is being waged.

Take for example, development-stage biotech company Oncolytics Biotech Inc. (NASDAQ:ONCY) (TSX:ONC) that's developing an immuno-oncology virus for the treatment of cancer, both solid and in malignancy. Once entered into the bloodstream, the virus specifically targets and enters cancer cells, where it replicates itself and triggers an attack response from the body's immune system.

Dubbed 'pelareorep' Oncolytics Biotech is partnering its proprietary drug with already approved cancer drugs, such as Bavencio from Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) and Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK), and Tecentriq from Roche Holding AG (OTC:RHHBY).

Also being tested in combination with Tecentriq is IPI-549 from Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:INFI), in two studies initiated in September: the first being solely in combination with Tecentriq, and another with Tecentriq and Abraxane in front-line triple negative breast cancer.

Preliminary results have been promising, and are worth a look at again during this October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

EYES ON THE PRIZE

Beyond the benefit of saving lives, and improving quality of life, drug developers are clearly incentivized by the economics of the problem. Last year the global breast cancer therapeutics market was valued at US$17.87 billion—but projected growth at CAGR of 10.2% has led analysts to predict the market to reach US$38.57 billion by the end of 2026.

It's worth looking at today's approved drugs, and their current sales to figure out where the market is heading.

While sales of Bavencio more than tripled between 2017-18 from US$23 million to $75.5 million, Tecentriq had a successful 2018 with $766 million in sales.

However, it's also worth keeping some attention on Merck's Keytruda, which in July saw a hopeful study to bring the drug back on path as a potential treatment for breast cancer. Sales of Keytruda in 2018 were over $7.2 billion worldwide.

The effectiveness of each of these treatments may soon be greatly enhanced with the introduction of combinations currently in development—especially pelareorep from Oncolytics Biotech Inc. (NASDAQ:ONCY) (TSX:ONC), which is being looked at for combination viability with all three drugs mentioned above.

BIOTECH TEAMWORK

Both Pfizer and Merck KGaA  are working with Oncolytics through co-development agreement to develop pelareorep in combination with paclitaxel and Bavencio^®, a human anti-PD-L1 antibody, for the treatment of hormone-receptor positive, metastatic breast cancer.

As per the terms of the agreement, Oncolytics and Pfizer are set to share costs associated with the phase 2 clinical trial, an open label study that will enroll 45 patients into three cohorts with 15 patients per cohort: paclitaxel alone, paclitaxel in combination with pelareorep and paclitaxel in combination with both pelareorep and avelumab.

Oncolytics is also working solo with Merck, by combining pelareorep with Merck's anti-PD-1, pembrolizumab (Keytruda), in two Investigator Sponsored Trials (IST's). The goal is to expand the use of checkpoint inhibitors as anti-cancer agents by promoting an inflamed phenotype in the tumor or turning cold tumors hot.

The first study is in second line pancreatic cancer will enroll approximately 40 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. The second study is in multiple myeloma and will continue to build on Oncolytics' I-O program by combining proteasome inhibitors and pelareorep to demonstrate an increase of PD-L1 expression on multiple myeloma cells and recruitment of T-cells to the bone marrow.

Roche has signed on with Oncolytics for a Master Clinical Supply Agreement, which will supply atezolizumab (Tecentriq) for use in a clinical development program. The supply agreement enables Oncolytics to further investigate pelareorep's impact on cancer treatments in combination with atezolizumab and has already been incorporated into their clinical program with the SOLTI WOO study in breast cancer.

ENCOURAGING PROGRESS TO DATE

With an immediate focus on checkpoint inhibitors, Oncolytics' primary objective is to obtain regulatory approval for pelareorep as quickly as possible.

Pelareorep comes with very compelling metastatic breast cancer survival data, as well as synergies with checkpoint approved inhibitors and positive clinical biomarker data.

The company's second objective is to expand pelareorep into commercially valuable new treatment areas including other immunotherapy agents in collaboration with pharmaceutical partners.

Oncolytics has established a successful partnership with Adlai Nortye in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. As per the relationship, there are already in place upfront and milestone payments of up to $86.6 million, with $65 million tied to potential development expansion.

FROM AWARENESS TO ACTION

As most media coverage during the month of October pertains to pink ribbon campaigns, there is plenty to be encouraged about in the field of drug development.

Much like Oncolytics, Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (INFI) is also pairing its drug IPI-549 in combination with major drugs such as Opdivo and Tecentriq. The company is evaluating an Opdivo combination in a phase 1/1b study (MARIO-1) in about 200 patients with advanced solid tumors. Pairing with Tecentriq and Abraxane, the company is also evaluating IPI-549 having initiated a phase II, MARIO-3 study in collaboration with Roche Holding AG (RHHBY) in front-line triple negative breast cancer (TNBC).

Less than a week before Breast Cancer Awareness month began, Pfizer Inc. (PFE) announced new evidence from four studies supporting the effectives of their IBRANCE (palbociclib) combination therapy in everyday clinical practice. The results also provided additional insights on IBRANCE's use in certain patients with hormone receptor-positive (HR+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2-) metastatic breast cancer (MBC). 

With pairings like the above mentioned Oncolytics pelareorep potential, Merck & Co. (MRK) still has high hopes for new studies for its Keytruda. Data from a recent study of Keytruda and chemotherapy in triple negative breast cancer gave promising results, including

increased response from 51.2% with neoadjuvant chemotherapy to 64.8% with the neoadjuvant combination with the pre-surgery patients.

For a more view the report at USA News Group:  https://usanewsgroup.com/2019/10/06/what-if-you-could-teach-your-body-to-fight-cancer/

Article Source:

USA News Group

http://usanewsgroup.com

info@usanewsgroup.com

Legal Disclaimer/Disclosure:

This piece is an advertorial and has been paid for. This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment. No information in this Report should be construed as individualized investment advice. A licensed financial advisor should be consulted prior to making any investment decision. We make no guarantee, representation or warranty and accept no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion are those of USA News Group only and are subject to change without notice. USA News Group assumes no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission. Furthermore, we assume no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information, provided within this Report.

DISCLAIMER:  USA News Group is Source of all content listed above.  FN Media Group, LLC (FNM), is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels. FNM is NOT affiliated in any manner with USA News Group or any company mentioned herein.  The commentary, views and opinions expressed in this release by USA News Group are solely those of USA News Group and are not shared by and do not reflect in any manner the views or opinions of FNM.  FNM is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers.  FNM and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination and financial marketing solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security.  FNM was not compensated by any public company mentioned herein to disseminate this press release.

FNM HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE.

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and FNM undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

Media Contact Information:
FN Media Group, LLC
Media Contact e-mail:  
editor@financialnewsmedia.com 
U.S. Phone: +1(954)345-0611