Safety and efficacy of VB-111, an anti-cancer gene-therapy, in patients with recurrent glioblastoma: results of a phase I/II study VB-111 is an experimental gene therapy. Two papers came out at the same time with conflicting results. This phase 1/2 study had very good results but was not as large or well designed as the phase 3 trial. mentioned in the next article. They used the treatment in a few different ways with the best being using the VB-111 alone until progression, then continue VB-111 and add Avastin. My thoughts are that most of the immunotherapy trials fail because they stop the treatment too soon. These treatments take time to work, and sometimes the tumor looks worse before it gets better.
A randomized controlled phase III study of VB-111 combined with bevacizumab vs. bevacizumab monotherapy in patients with recurrent glioblastoma (GLOBE). VB-111 is an experimental gene therapy being tested for use in recurrent Glioblastoma. As I mentioned in the previous article, the results for the phase 1/2 trial came out on the same day as the results of the phase 3 trial. I do not think I ever saw that happen before. The Phase 1/2 trial came out very good however, this failed to show any improvement of VB-111 plus Avastin randomized against Avastin alone in recurrent GBM. If they had the results of the phase1/2 trial before they designed this phase 3 trial, they might have designed it differently as the phase 1/2 trial showed that using VB-111 alone until recurrence, then continuing vb-111 and adding avastin did much better than starting with VB-111 and Avastin at the same time. This shows that adding combinations doesn't always improve the outcome. Everything needs to be tested and timing is very important.
I am still a fan of VB-111 but think it needs more work to find the optimal way to use it.
