Medpacto, a subsidiary of Theregen ETEX, said Monday that it has presented its phase 1b clinical trial results on Vactosertib, an immunotherapy agent, at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2018.

Vactosertib is a drug candidate that selectively inhibits TGF-β, a mechanism that inhibits the therapeutic effect of immunotherapy.

The company conducted a clinical trial on five patients by co-administering Pomalidomide, the existing multiple myeloma drug, and Vactosertib with Case Western Reserve University Integrated Cancer Center in the U.S, in August last year.

As a result, the six-month progression-free survival (PFS) rate was 100 percent. PFS means that the patient has survived after taking the drug with no further progression of cancer or adverse events.

“Although the number of subjects was small, the survival of the untreated patients remained unchanged until the first observation period of six months, which is a significant result considering that the median PFS time was 3.6 months for the conventional combination treatment of pomalidomide and dexamethasone,” the company said.

Medpacto is particularly excited as all of the participants in the clinical trials did not have any treatment effect or had recurrences when taking conventional treatments, the company said. Also, despite existing multiple myeloma treatments mainly used steroid and Dexamethasone, the use of Vactosertib, an oral agent, improves the ease of treatment and eliminates adverse reactions caused by the use of steroids, it added.

“The combination treatment of Vactosertib, which showed excellent clinical efficacy in animal models for solid cancer, such as stomach cancer and lung cancer, can be expected in blood-related cancer as well,” Medpacto CEO Kim Seong-jin said.

The company plans to expand its trial to 27 patients, including the five initial ones, next year.

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