Argos Announces Start of Phase II AGS-003 Trial in NSCLC

The Cancer Research Network of Nebraska has initiated a phase II clinical trial of the autologous dendritic cell immunotherapy AGS-003 with standard platinum-doublet chemotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), Argos Therapeutics, Inc. has announced.  

AGS-003 is produced using RNA from a patient’s tumor sample, and dendritic cells. It is designed to provoke memory T-cell immune responses specifically targeting an individual patient’s tumor neoantigens, which arise from tumor-specific gene mutations.

“The standard of treatment of NSCLC has been chemotherapy after surgery, but now we can offer this exciting new option of individualized immunotherapy,” said co-principal investigator Stephen Lemon, MD, Oncology Associates in Omaha.

The nonrandomized, open-label, phase II safety study will enroll 20 patients newly diagnosed with stage III NSCLC, administering AGS-003 either concurrently or sequentially with standard carboplatin and paclitaxel chemotherapy regimens, with or without radiotherapy. The primary study endpoint is the effect of AGS-003 on the toxicity associated with standard chemotherapy. Secondary endpoints include memory T-cell activation among patients who complete induction therapy and are administered five or more doses of AGS-003.

AGS-003 is also under study in the phase III ADAPT clinical trial for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). Argos is an immuno-oncology firm developing and commercializing “truly individualized” anticancer immunotherapies.