Oncolytics Biotech Inc. Completes Patient Enrolment In U.K. Phase Ia/Ib Combination REOLYSIN®/Radiation Clinical Trial

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Also Included In: Clinical Trials / Drug Trials
Article Date: 23 Dec 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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Oncolytics Biotech Inc. has completed patient enrolment in its Phase Ia/Ib U.K. clinical trial investigating the intratumoural delivery of REOLYSIN® in combination with radiation to treat patients with advanced cancers. A total of 23 patients received a range of two to six intratumoural doses of REOLYSIN® at escalating dosages up to a maximum of 1x1010 TCID50 with a constant localized radiation dose of either 20 Gy or 36 Gy. The treatment appears to have been well tolerated by the patients and results in both local and remote anti-tumour activity in patients with a variety of advanced cancers.

Interim results were presented at the National Cancer Research Institute conference on October 2, 2007 in Birmingham, U.K. and at the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in San Francisco on October 24, 2007.

The primary objective of the trial is to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD), dose limiting toxicity (DLT), and safety profile of REOLYSIN® when administered intratumourally to patients receiving radiation treatment. A secondary objective is to examine any evidence of anti-tumour activity. Eligible patients include those who have been diagnosed with advanced or metastatic solid tumours that are refractory (have not responded) to standard therapy or for which no curative standard therapy exists.

The principal investigators for the trial are Dr. Kevin Harrington of the Targeted Therapy Laboratory, Cancer Research UK Centre for Cell and Molecular Biology, The Institute of Cancer Research and Honorary Consultant in Clinical Oncology at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK, and Dr. Alan Melcher of the Cancer Research U.K. Clinical Centre at St. James's University Hospital in Leeds. The trial enrolled patients at the Royal Marsden and St. James's Hospitals in the U.K.

About Oncolytics Biotech Inc.

Oncolytics is a Calgary-based biotechnology company focused on the development of oncolytic viruses as potential cancer therapeutics. Oncolytics' clinical program includes a variety of Phase I and Phase II human trials using REOLYSIN®, its proprietary formulation of the human reovirus, alone and in combination with radiation or chemotherapy.

http://www.oncolyticsbiotech.com