OncoSec Medical (ONCS) is a biotechnology company based out of San Diego, California. It harnesses the body’s own immune system to fight off and kill cancer. The company accomplishes this through its ImmunoPulse IL-12 technology. This type of technology helps the company to boost local delivery and enhance the uptake of DNA based therapeutics.

IL-12 is a protein that is naturally produced by the immune system. The company has achieved good results with ImmunoPulse IL-12 as a monotherapy approach. In addition, it is a promising time for the company because it recognizes the potential to increase response rates for patients with Melanoma. It achieves this by combining its technology with an already approved immunotherapy drug by the name of Keytruda (pembrolizumab). Keytruda is an immunotherapy drug produced and marketed by Merck & Co. (MRK).

Immune-Cell Numbers Predict Response to Combination Immunotherapy in Melanoma

Combination Approach

The human body can’t fight off cancer cells because the immune system is unable to recognize them. Cancer cells have a protective mechanism that masks them from the immune system. That means T-cells can’t kill these cancerous cells, because it can’t find them. Keytruda is a type of antibody that blocks the protective mechanism of cancer cells.  Keytruda is an anti PD-1 immunotherapy drug. It targets the programmed cell death 1 receptor. (PD-1 is a cell surface receptor that acts as the cancer cell’s bodyguard. It is responsible for eliminating T-cell activity by lowering the immune system’s response.)

This is where OncoSec’s technology has a chance to come in and boost efficacy in patients with melanoma. Current treatments for melanoma such as Bristol Myers Squibb’s (BMY) Opdivo (nivolumab) and Keytruda are good immunotherapy drugs, however they sometimes lack execution. At least 60% of patients don’t respond to anti PD-1 therapies. That means there is plenty of room for a combination approach between OncoSec’s technology and Keytruda to help those who don’t respond to monotherapy alone (Keytruda or Opdivo alone). This is accomplished because IL-12 stimulates CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells that target and kill cancerous cells. In therapy with PD-1 drugs such as Keytruda alone some patients don’t generate the immune response necessary with T-cells to clear the tumor. IL-12 enhances the T-cell immune response, making therapy as a combination approach that much more superior.