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Key Points
- Imugene shares rocket on back of new supply agreement with Roche
- Clinical trial of PD1-Vaxx will be combined with an immune checkpoint inhibitor
- The deal is expected to last up to five years
The Imugene Limited (ASX: IMU) share price is continuing its ascent during Friday afternoon following a company update.
At the time of writing, the company's shares are strongly rebounding to post a gain of 9.65% to 31.3 cents.
Let's take a look at what the company released to the ASX in late afternoon trade.
What's driving the Imugene share price higher today?
Investors are fighting to get a hold of Imugene shares after the company announced a positive development for its PD1-Vaxx immunotherapy.
In today's statement, Imugene advised it has entered into a clinical trial supply agreement with Swiss multinational healthcare company, Roche.
Imugene stated that the primary objective of the phase 1b trial is to determine the safety, efficacy and optimal dose of PD1-Vaxx in combination with atezolizumab.
The immunotherapy will be used for the treatment of lung cancer in patients at sites across the United States and Australia.
PD1-Vaxx is a B-cell immunotherapy designed to treat tumours by producing polyclonal antibodies that block PD-1 signalling, causing an anti-cancer effect.
Clinicians will look into the underlying benefits of PD1-Vaxx when in use with the immune checkpoint inhibitor targeting PD-L1, atezolizumab.
PD1-Vaxx has the advantage that it induces a unique polyclonal immune response which may increase response rates for the combination therapy.
Imugene managing director and CEO, Leslie Chong commented:
It's an outstanding accomplishment to see Imugene collaborate with Roche, in combination with our PD1-Vaxx drug. PD1-Vaxx has shown a tolerable safety profile and encouraging efficacy in patients with NSCLC, and we are looking forward to evaluating PD1-Vaxx with atezolizumab in ICI treatment-naive and pre-treated NSCLC patients.
The supply agreement of atezolizumab will last for up to a period of five years. Imugene will take lead on the study, and fund it through existing budgets and resources.
The Imugene share price has shot up by almost 200% in value over the past 12 months.
