Sydney, Australia (ABN Newswire) - Regeneus (ASX:RGS), a clinical-stage regenerative medicine company, announced today the commencement of a trial of its cancer vaccine technology, Kvax, in combination with chemotherapy as a treatment for canine lymphoma. Veterinary oncologists at the Small Animal Specialist Hospital (SASH) in Sydney will conduct the trial. SASH is a leading specialist veterinary referral hospital which is often featured as the referral hospital on the television program Bondi Vet.

The trial will use Kvax together with chemotherapy to seek to extend remission times for 45 dogs with lymphoma. All dogs will be definitively diagnosed for B-cell lymphoma and will undergo chemotherapy.

Once in remission the dog may then be treated with Kvax. Blinded reviewers will measure lymph nodes and time of remission and survival time will be determined. Remission lasts on average 8-10 months with chemotherapy, with a median survival time of approximately 1 year.

Kvax uses the removal of a small amount of tumour or biopsy from the patient as source material to produce a personalised cancer vaccine. The vaccine stimulates the dog's immune system to see the cancer cells as foreign and can prevent further growth of the tumour as well as development of new tumours.

Lymphoma is responsible for 7-14% of all canine cancers(see note 1) with an estimated annual incidence rate of approximately 90 per 100,000 dogs.(see note 2) Canine lymphoma is often compared to, and used as a model for non-Hodgkins lymphoma in man.(see note 3)

"We're very excited to be investigating Kvax in this trial" says Dr. Veronika Langova leading veterinary oncologist at SASH, and principal investigator for the study. "Chemotherapy works well for lymphoma, but invariably the cancer will return. An improvement in remission times would be a fantastic outcome."

"Lymphoma is the most commonly treated canine cancer", said Duncan Thomson - Head of the Veterinary Business Unit for Regeneus. "A result here will undoubtedly help dogs world-wide in the fight against this terrible disease, and may also point the direction for human research."

Kvax has now been used to treat >100 dogs in Australia with >14 different types of cancer with promising results. The Kvax trial for osteosarcoma (bone cancer) conducted by VCA in the USA has been fully recruited and is ongoing. To date there have been no safety concerns with Kvax. Human Phase 1 trials of the human equivalent cancer vaccine technology, RGSH4K, are progressing.

Researchers at the Kolling Institute of Medical Research (KIMR), located at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, developed the technology. In a pre-clinical rat glioma (brain tumour) model conducted at KIMR, the vaccine led to remission rates of 30%-60% and upon re-challenge these animals did not get the disease, which indicates acquired immunity. The results of this work were published in March 2014 in Cancer Immunology Research, the peer-reviewed journal published by the American Association for Cancer Research.

NOTES:

1 https://vet.purdue.edu/pcop/canine-lymphoma-research.php
2 Dobson, J. M., SAMUEL, S., MILSTEIN, H., ROGERS, K., & Wood, J. (2002). Canine neoplasia in the UK: estimates of incidence rates from a population of insured dogs. Journal of Small Animal Practice, 43(6), 240-246.
3 https://ccrod.cancer.gov/confluence/display/CCRCOPWeb/Non-Hodgkin's+Lymphoma

About SASH:

SASH is a purpose built animal referral hospital located in North Ryde, Sydney Australia, and has a team of dedicated veterinary specialists that work together to provide high quality and compassionate care for pets.



About Regeneus Ltd:

Regeneus Ltd (ASX:RGS) is a clinical-stage regenerative medicine company developing a portfolio of cell therapies to address significant unmet medical needs in the human and animal health markets with a focus on musculoskeletal disorders, oncology and dermatology disease.

The company has two therapies targeting human conditions in various stages of development including two products in Phase I trials: Progenza is an allogeneic off-the-shelf adipose stem cell therapy to treat musculoskeletal conditions and RGSH4K is a human autologous personalized therapeutic cancer vaccine to treat a wide range of cancer types. The company has a stem cell secretions based cream targeting acne and other inflammatory skin conditions. The company has two therapies targeting animal conditions: CryoShot is a clinical-stage allogeneic off-the-shelf adipose stem cell therapy for the treatment of canine and equine musculoskeletal conditions and Kvax is an autologous personalized therapeutic cancer vaccine in clinical trials.



Source:

Regeneus Ltd



Contact:

Duncan Thomson
Head of Veterinary Business
Regeneus Ltd
T: + 61 2 9499 8010
E: duncan.thomson@regeneus.com.au