Oncosec finally announced an update from their early stage triple negative breast cancer trial. This data was presented last Thursday at the San Antonio Breast Conference. For whatever reason, it took the company 5 days to put out a vague press release. We have lost confidence in Oncosec as we believe this is the second time in Q4 that management has slipped up with data releases.
ONCS reported that their drug tavo “converted 4 of 10 poorly immunogenic salvage setting TNBC tumors into immunologically active lesions”. In these 4 patients, there was an increase of CD8+ TIL and decrease in immune suppressive cells.
Oncosec is betting that TNBC patients will benefit from treatment with PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors if the tumor is immunologically active. The company is testing this theory in their combination study with Merck’s Keytruda (KEYNOTE-890). Tavo makes tumor “hot” or immunologically active, allowing Keytruda to be effective. This study will enroll 25 patients. Since initiation in October, the company has enrolled 5/25. We anticipate interim data will likely be sometime in Q2.
ONCS Tone in TNBC Has Changed
Prior to putting out this most recent data, ONCS was touting their early Phase 1 TNBC data as showing (see October deck):
“Dramatic reduction in tumor size observed in 2 out of 2 patients who received off protocol nivolomab” and “experienced clinically meaningful objective responses” – see images below
The company’s tone seems to have changed to be more conservative now. This most recent press release says that tavo “converted 4 of 10 poorly immunogenic salvage setting TNBC tumors into immunologically active lesions.”
The company is not talking about tumor size reduction or any clinically meaningful objective responses. Disclosed data was vague. This makes us question just how good the data in San Antonio was.
For investors willing to wait and see, we anticipate ONCS will be reporting additional data sometime in Q2.
One or more of PropThink's contributors will sell ONCS within the following 48 hours.
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