Agenus Announces Positive Phase 2 Data From Brain Cancer Vaccine Study

(RTTNews) - Agenus Inc. (AGEN, AGEND), a biotechnology company developing novel immune system activating treatments for cancers and infectious diseases, Monday said results published from a Phase 2 study demonstrated that more than 90 percent of the patients treated with Prophage Series G-200 were alive at six months after surgery and 30 percent were alive at twelve months.

Additionally, the median overall survival was approximately eleven months. This compares favorably to the expected median survival for recurrent Glioblastoma multiforme or GBM patients of three to nine months.

The primary objective of this multi-center, single arm Phase 2 trial was to assess the survival rate at six months.

The data was published in a manuscript in Neuro-Oncology, the official journal of the Society of Neuro-Oncology.

GBM is the most common and most aggressive form of primary brain cancer. Despite approved therapy, patients with GBM face a poor prognosis. Prophage Series vaccines are currently being studied in both newly diagnosed and recurrent GBM.

Prophage Series vaccines are individualized cancer vaccines. Each Prophage Series vaccine is manufactured using a patient's own tumor after surgical removal.

Each vaccine contains the 'antigenic fingerprint' of the patient's particular cancer and is designed to activate the patient's immune system to specifically target and destroy cancer cells bearing this fingerprint.