October 27, 2020 -- Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Oncology has dosed the first patient in its phase II expansion portion of a study evaluating DSP-7888, an investigational immunotherapeutic cancer vaccine that targets Wilms tumor 1 (WT1), in combination with a programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) checkpoint inhibitor in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.
DSP-7888 contains two peptides that induce WT1-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes and helper T cells to attack WT1-expressing cancer cells found in various types of hematologic and solid tumors.
The phase IB/II open-label, multicenter study evaluates the safety and tolerability of the investigational vaccine in combination with the checkpoint inhibitor in adults with solid tumors, and it will also evaluate the antitumor activity in patients with the disease.
Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women in the U.S. The clinical trial is being conducted in the U.S.