Oncolytics Biotech, a Calgary-based biotechnology company, has completed patient enrolment in a UK Phase I clinical trial investigating Reolysin in combination with cyclophosphamide in patients with advanced malignancies. Reolysin is the company’s proprietary formulation of the human reovirus.

The study has enrolled patients diagnosed with advanced or metastatic solid tumours, including pancreatic, lung and ovarian cancers that are refractory to standard therapy, or for which no standard curative therapy exists.

Oncolytics chief operating officer Dr Matt Coffey said the company has completed the enrolment of the technical study examining cyclophosphamide’s potential to modulate the immune system’s response to Reolysin.

"Studies of this type help to advance our understanding of the interaction between the immune system and our product," Dr Coffey said.

The primary objective of the open-label study is to determine the minimum effective immunomodulatory dose of cyclophosphamide necessary to obtain successful immune modulation.

The secondary objectives of the dose-escalating, 36-patient trial include assessing the safety profile of the combination and gathering any evidence of antitumor activity.

Oncolytics’ clinical programme includes a variety of other human trials including a Phase III trial in head and neck cancers using Reolysin.

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