Advaxis Doses First Patient With Customized Immunotherapy Targeting Personal Neoantigens

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  •  Company just announced 24% cut in workforce
  • First patient is being treated for non-small cell lung cancer
  • ADXS-NEO generates T cell responses against neoantigen peptides that control tumor growth, even when they were identified as “non-immunogenic”


Advaxis, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADXS  announced on 6/11/2018 it has commenced a Phase 1 trial with the dosing of the first patient with ADXS-NEO, an investigational personalized immunotherapy approach targeting personal neoantigens found by sequencing a patient’s own cancer cells. ADXS-NEO is being evaluated in an open-label, dose-escalation, multicenter Phase 1 clinical trial in the United States. The study is open to patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), metastatic microsatellite stable colon cancer and metastatic squamous head and neck cancer. The first patient dosed is being treated for non-small cell lung cancer. ADXS-NEO is being developed in collaboration with Amgen. Advaxis is leading clinical development through proof-of-concept.

Pre-clinical findings for ADXS-NEO were presented at the 2018 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting. The company presented data in mouse models showing that ADXS-NEO generates T cell responses against neoantigen peptides that control tumor growth, even when they were identified as “non-immunogenic” using a conventional peptide-adjuvant immunization.

“We are extremely pleased to advance ADXS-NEO into the clinic. This program brings our clinically-validated LmTechnology to the cutting-edge area of neoantigen immuno-oncology,” said Kenneth A. Berlin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Advaxis. “We are committed to realizing the potential of ADXS-NEO to mobilize patients’ immune systems against mutations that accumulate within and contribute to the development of their cancer, and to bring the potential benefits of our technology to more patients and their families.”

Enrolled patients will undergo a biopsy, and Advaxis will then manufacture an investigational personalized treatment for each patient based on an analysis of their tumor neoantigen mutations, which will be ready to dose within 8 weeks of the initial biopsy. More information about the trial is available at www.clinicaltrials.gov.

ADXS-NEO is an investigational personalized Listeria monocytogenes (Lm)-based immunotherapy designed to generate immune response against mutation-derived tumor-specific neoantigens identified through DNA sequencing of a patient’s own tumors. The program focuses on creating a customized treatment for each patient targeting multiple neoantigens found in a biopsy of the patient’s tumor. ADXS-NEO is being developed in partnership with Amgen.

On June 7th Advaxis announced it was cutting 24% of its workforce to focus on commercially viable applications of the companies LM platform.