Quest PharmaTech announces two presentations by OncoQuest Pharmaceuticals, Inc. at the 2021 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Clinical Oncologists
TSX Venture: QPT
EDMONTON, AB, June 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Quest PharmaTech Inc. (TSXV: QPT) ("Quest" or the "Company") announces that clinical investigators working with OncoQuest Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("OQP") lead clinical candidate oregovomab, will be making two presentations as part of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference proceedings. OQP acquired oregovomab from OncoQuest Inc., one of the equity investee companies (45%) of Quest PharmaTech Inc.
The first presentation by Dr. Angeles Alvarez Secord, Principal Investigator and Associate Director of Clinical Research at Duke Cancer Institute of Duke University will update the research community on progress with the ongoing FLORA 5 phase III clinical study of front-line carboplatin-paclitaxel-oregovomab chemotherapy. This double blind and placebo controlled multinational trial is currently accruing patients at centers in the US, Canada, Europe and Asia and is adding additional centers and participating geographies. This study seeks to confirm the observations of Brewer et al in Gynecologic Oncology 2020 that demonstrated how oregovomab in combination with carboplatin and paclitaxel could dramatically improve both progression free and overall survival relative to chemotherapy in the absence of incremental toxicity.
The second oregovomab report at ASCO being presented by Dr. Robert Holloway, Medical Director of the Gynecologic Oncology Program at Florida Hospital is an abstract presentation of the results from the Phase 1b oregovomab clinical trial protocol ORE-QPT-003H. The report titled, "Final survival follow up and translational associations using interval indirect immunization with oregovomab (O) and poly ICLC (Hiltonol®) (H) in patients (pts) with recurrent platinum resistant ovarian cancer" evaluated heavily pretreated patients with recurrent ovarian cancer receiving an indirect immunization with oregovomab in combination with the TLR3 agonist polyICLC (Hiltonol®). The median OS was 15 months in this advance disease population and 4 patients remained alive at the data lock. The study established that Hiltonol® is a suitable candidate for augmenting immune response in the immune suppressed heavily advanced disease population and pointed to novel approaches to the management of this difficult and unmet medical need.
"OQP remains on track for seeking registration of its lead product oregovomab in the front-line ovarian cancer setting, and continues to explore optimal combinations with various immune-adjuvants for the recurrent setting" said Dr. Sunil Gupta MD, FRCPC, Chief Medical Officer of OncoQuest Pharmaceuticals, Inc. "We are accelerating the enrollment of the FLORA-5 study as more countries and centers come on board."
On corporate matters, Quest announces that it will be holding its annual, general and special meeting of shareholders on Monday, July 5, 2021 at 11:00 am at the Company's corporate office in Edmonton. Due to Covid 19 concerns, shareholders are encouraged to attend remotely. Quest also announces that its annual audited financial statements and MD&A for the year ended January 31, 2021 have recently been filed on SEDAR and can be viewed at www.sedar.com. Lastly, Quest announces the granting of 1,250,000 stock options to officers, at an exercise price of $0.115 per common share, expiring 10 years from the date of grant, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval.
About Oregovomab.
Oregovomab is a murine IgG against CA 125. Indirect immunization with oregovomab interacts with immune modulating properties of infused paclitaxel and carboplatin resulting in synergistic clinical benefit as observed in this phase 2 trial. In a randomized Phase 2 clinical trial of 97 patients, treatment with Oregovomab demonstrated a highly clinically significant outcome for both progression-free and overall survival favoring the addition of oregovomab to a standard of care chemotherapy combination of carboplatin and paclitaxel. The risk of progression and of death was reduced by more than 50% when compared to placebo, and safety data showed that oregovomab did not add incremental toxicity to the chemotherapy regimen. Clinical and translational results were published in Gynecology Oncology 2020 156:523-529 and Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy 2020 69: 383-397, respectively.
About OncoQuest Pharmaceuticals Inc.
OncoQuest Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a Korean biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of immunotherapies for cancer. OncoQuest Pharmaceuticals' technology platform includes a portfolio of tumor antigen specific monoclonal immunoglobulins targeting CA-125, MUC1, PSA and Her2/neu. The company is exploring the therapeutic potential of these antibodies as indirect immunizers in combination with other immune modulating drugs or drug combinations to address unmet medical needs in oncology. To learn more, visit www.oqp.co.kr
About Quest PharmaTech Inc.
Quest PharmaTech Inc is a publicly traded, Canadian based biopharmaceutical company (TSX-V:QPT) developing products to improve the quality of life. The company has a 45% ownership interest in OncoQuest Inc. which sold its immunotherapy technology to OncoQuest Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Quest also has an equity interest in OncoVent, a Chinese joint venture developing antibody-based immunotherapeutic products for cancer for the Greater China territory. Quest has an ownership interest in Bioceltran which is focused on SP Technology™ for transdermal delivery of drugs and photosensitizers for pharmaceutical and cosmetic purposes. Quest is also developing the mutant EGF technology licensed from Stanford University for chronic wound healing applications. Quest, through its ownership interest in OncoCare Therapeutics, is developing an antibody licensed from University of Nebraska, AR 9.6 mAb against truncated O-glycan on MUC16, for targeted cancer therapy applications. To learn more, visit www.questpharmatech.com
Forward Looking Statements
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SOURCE Quest PharmaTech Inc.
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