Author Interviews, Brain Cancer - Brain Tumors, Cancer Research, Immunotherapy, Pharmaceutical Companies / 22.02.2021
Glioblastoma: Inovio’s Novel Combination of DNA Medication Plus Immunotherapy Boosts Survival
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Jeffrey Skolnik, MD
Senior Vice President, Clinical Development
INOVIO
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this technology? Would you tell us a little about the brain tumor, Glioblastoma Multiforme? How common is it, whom does it primarily affect?
Response: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common malignant brain tumor, affecting more than 10 thousand people each year in the United States. Most people diagnosed with GBM are above the age of 60 years, although GBM can be diagnosed at any age, including in children and young adults. Despite decades of research, GBM remains almost universally fatal. GBM is a tumor of the glial cells of the brain, and current therapies are directed at removing tumor with surgery and killing residual tumor cells with radiation and chemotherapy.
More recently, with the introduction of immunotherapies such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) for the treatment of cancer, clinical studies have tried to add this promising technology to the treatment of GBM. Unfortunately, despite success in other types of cancer, ICIs have not demonstrated any clinical benefit in treating GBM. Newer clinical studies aim at introducing a combination of newer therapies together to try to tackle this terrible disease, and INOVIO’s GBM-001 study is one such example of an innovative approach to treating GBM.
Jeffrey Skolnik, MD
Senior Vice President, Clinical Development
INOVIO
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this technology? Would you tell us a little about the brain tumor, Glioblastoma Multiforme? How common is it, whom does it primarily affect?
Response: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common malignant brain tumor, affecting more than 10 thousand people each year in the United States. Most people diagnosed with GBM are above the age of 60 years, although GBM can be diagnosed at any age, including in children and young adults. Despite decades of research, GBM remains almost universally fatal. GBM is a tumor of the glial cells of the brain, and current therapies are directed at removing tumor with surgery and killing residual tumor cells with radiation and chemotherapy.
More recently, with the introduction of immunotherapies such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) for the treatment of cancer, clinical studies have tried to add this promising technology to the treatment of GBM. Unfortunately, despite success in other types of cancer, ICIs have not demonstrated any clinical benefit in treating GBM. Newer clinical studies aim at introducing a combination of newer therapies together to try to tackle this terrible disease, and INOVIO’s GBM-001 study is one such example of an innovative approach to treating GBM. 
Dr. Roger Stupp[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Roger Stupp, MD
Professor & Chairman
Department of Oncology & Cancer Center
University of Zurich & University Hospital Zurich (USZ)
Zürich / Switzerland
Medical Research: What is the background for this study?
Dr. Stupp: Tumor Treating Fields are an entirely novel modality in cancer treatment. Over 10 years ago researchers demonstrated that alternating electrical fields will block cell growth, interfere with organelle assembly, in particular perturb the spindle apparatus and cell division, all leading to mitotic arrest and ultimately apoptosis. This was shown in vitro, but importantly also in vivo animal models including not only mice and rats, but also hamsters and rabbits with deep seated solid tumours. So the question was whether we can demonstrate such an effect also in the clinic.
Glioblastoma are locally invasive and aggressive tumours in the brain. They usually do not metastasise however they grow diffusely within the CNS and despite the best possible surgery, radiation and chemotherapy virtually always recur. We thus applied alternating electrical fields therapy, so called Tumor Treating Fields to the scalp of patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. After the end of standard chemoradiotherapy (TMZ/RT), patients were randomized to receive either standard maintenance TMZ-chemotherapy alone or in combination with TTFields. Almost 700 patients were randomized, here we report on a preplanned interim analysis looking at the first 315 patients included once they were followed for at least 18 months. The data on the first 315 patients are mature and allowed the IDMC to conclude that the trial should be stopped and the results made available.
Medical Research: What are the main findings?
Dr. Stupp: The study demonstrated a consistent prolongation of both progression-free and also of overall survival for patients who have been treated with TTFields in addition to standard therapy. The median progression-free survival and overall survival were prolonged by 3 months, translating to an absolute increase in overall survival at 2 years of 14%, from 29% to 43%. Or a hazard ratio of 0.74 for overall survival and of 0.62 for progression-free survival.