National Multicenter Trial Opens to Study ImmunityBio’s Tri-Ad5 Cancer Vaccines Plus N-803 to Prevent Cancer in People with Lynch Syndrome

ImmunityBio, a clinical-stage immunotherapy company, today announced the opening of a clinical trial to study its investigational Tri-Ad5 cancer vaccines combination (Adenovirus 5 CEA/MUC1/brachyury) together with its IL-15 superagonist N-803, an immune-enhancer, for people with a hereditary condition known as Lynch syndrome. This Phase 2b trial (NCT05419011) sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, will study whether Tri-Ad5 in combination with N-803 works to prevent colorectal and other cancers in study participants.

Each of the three vaccines in Tri-Ad5 targets different proteins associated with precancer and cancer cells. The vaccine combination is studying whether activation of dendritic cells and training the immune system to recognize those proteins will destroy the precancer cells before the cancer advances. N-803 is designed to enhance the effects of the vaccines by increasing proliferation and activation of natural killer (NK) and T cells, thereby increasing the potential for cancer prevention in study participants.

“We are excited to partner with the NCI on this important cancer vaccine study to potentially prevent or delay the onset of cancer for people who carry the gene associated with Lynch syndrome,” said Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D., Executive Chairman and Global Chief Scientific and Medical Officer at ImmunityBio. “Lynch syndrome affects tens of thousands of people each year and the average age of cancer diagnosis for them is just 44. People known to have the gene for Lynch syndrome can be followed closely by their doctors with regular examinations and scans to watch for the development of cancer but, currently, there is no treatment that prevents the development of cancer in these patients. We hope to change that with this innovative study developed by the NCI.”

Lynch syndrome is one of the most common hereditary cancer syndromes. Not only can people with Lynch syndrome develop colorectal cancer some 20 years before the average age of diagnosis for this cancer, but they are also at an increased risk of developing multiple types of other cancers, including endometrial, stomach, ovarian, pancreas, ureter and renal pelvis, biliary tract, brain, and small intestinal cancers. Colorectal cancer is the second-deadliest cancer type in the U.S., and approximately 3% to 5% of the 153,000 cases of colorectal cancer annually are thought to be due to Lynch Syndrome, as are 2% to 3% of all cases of endometrial cancer.2 “The Tri-Ad5 vaccine trial will be the largest Lynch syndrome cancer prevention study done in the U.S.,” said Asad Umar, D.V.M., Ph.D., a senior advisor to the director for translational research in NCI’s Division of Cancer Prevention (DCP) and a scientific lead for the trial.