SBIR-STTR Award

Expedited Expansion Cohort Clinical Trial for Relapsed/Refractory 'no-option' Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma/Leukemia Patients
Award last edited on: 2/16/2024

Sponsored Program
SBIR
Awarding Agency
NIH : NCI
Total Award Amount
$1,999,998
Award Phase
2
Solicitation Topic Code
395
Principal Investigator
Theresa Deisher

Company Information

AVM Biotechnology LLC (AKA: Ave Maria Biotechnology LLC)

1749 Dexter Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109
   (206) 482-0913
   info@avmbiotech.com
   www.avmbiotech.com
Location: Single
Congr. District: 07
County: King

Phase I

Contract Number: 1R44CA272096-01
Start Date: 6/10/2022    Completed: 4/30/2024
Phase I year
2022
Phase I Amount
$999,999
Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL) is the 7th most common cancer in the U.S., with over half of the 77,240 people diagnosed annually over age 65. In about 50% of cases, disease recurs or relapses, typically within two years of initial treatment, and in some patients disease is refractory to additional treatment (Refractory/Relapsed, R/R). Salvage therapy in these patients consists of stronger chemotherapy cocktails or more recently, cell therapy or hematopoietic cell transplantation. Four-year survival rates are about 40% with salvage chemotherapy and 60% for ASCT. Autologous Chimeric Antigen Receptor T (CarT) cell products have triggered great response rates in clinical trials and real-world use for some types of R/R NHL. However, the therapies are not curative with up to 46% relapsing within 2 weeks to 8.5 months even with negative minimal residual disease (MRD); they are associated with significant toxicities and are restricted to administration at accredited treatment centers. AVM Biotechnology's FDA-approved trial, NCT04329728, is currently ongoing. This clinical trial includes a dose- escalation study of AVM0703 and a pivotal adaptive-design expansion cohort study in no-option patients with lymphoid malignancies who failed at least 1 prior regimen, who do not qualify for any other approved therapy, and who need treatment due to progressive disease. Currently City of Hope, UCLA, Norton Cancer Institute, Levine Cancer Institute, and University of Texas Southwestern are actively enrolling patients. Illinois Cancer Care University of Illinois and Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of Iowa are being activated. Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center, CHI Health St. Francis Hospital, Advent Health Hendersonville, Moffitt Cancer Center and MD Anderson Cancer Center will participate in the expansion cohort phase. Patients dosed to date, in compassionate use and in enrolled dose-escalation cohorts, demonstrate that AVM0703 is distinguished from other investigative drugs in this "˜terminal no-option' patient population by its absence of safety concerns, and the sites report that their patients feel great, regain appetite and energy, and durable response has been recorded. This proposal requests funding for the adaptive design expansion cohort study. Once the expansion phase dose has been determined (projected for Nov 2021 based on enrollment, safety and response to date) patients will be enrolled in 5 NHL sub-indication specific cohorts, requiring about 18 patients per arm to be able to see significant overall response rates. Adaptive design expansion studies offer a faster way to bring drugs to no-option patients and this expansion study has been specifically designed to meet FDA guidance for a marketing application. In the future AVM0703 will be studied in clinical trials in combination with earlier lines of therapy to determine the potential synergy of AVM0703 with standard of care to enhance complete response rate, reduce relapse rates, and potentially reduce the total number of therapeutic cycles patients require. This could significantly improve acute quality of life by reducing side-effects, reduce medical expenses and reduce long term toxicities.

Public Health Relevance Statement:
NARRATIVE AVM Biotechnology's FDA-approved trial evaluating AVM0703 in patients with lymphoid malignancies is currently ongoing. Patients dosed to date, in compassionate use and in enrolled dose-escalation cohorts, demonstrate that AVM0703 is distinguished from other investigative drugs in this "˜terminal no-option' patient population by its absence of safety concerns, and the sites report that their patients feel great, regain appetite and energy, and durable response has been recorded. This proposal requests funding for the pivotal adaptive- design expansion cohort portion of this trial in no-option patients with lymphoid malignancies who failed at least 1 prior regimen, who do not qualify for any other approved therapy, and who need treatment due to progressive disease in order to rapidly advance AVM0703 clinical development and obtain FDA approval to enter the market.

Project Terms:
Accreditation; Desire for food; Appetite; Biotechnology; Biotech; Malignant Neoplasms; Cancers; Malignant Tumor; malignancy; neoplasm/cancer; Cities; Clinical Protocols; Clinical Trials; Cohort Studies; Concurrent Studies; Dexamethasone; Diagnosis; Disease; Disorder; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Drugs; Medication; Pharmaceutic Preparations; drug/agent; Future; Glioblastoma; Grade IV Astrocytic Neoplasm; Grade IV Astrocytic Tumor; Grade IV Astrocytoma; glioblastoma multiforme; spongioblastoma multiforme; Health; Hospitals; Illinois; Indiana; Institutes; B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Acute B-Lymphocytic Leukemia; B cell progenitor acute lymphoblastic leukemia; B-ALL; B-Cell Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia; B-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia; B-cell ALL; B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia; Pre-B-Cell Leukemia; Precursor B Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma; Nonhodgkins Lymphoma; non-Hodgkins disease; Marketing; Persons; New Mexico; Patients; QOL; Quality of life; Relapse; Request for Proposals; Safety; Survival Rate; Texas; Transplantation; transplant; Universities; Salvage Therapy; Salvage-Tx; base; Label; improved; Site; Acute; Refractory; Phase; Medical; Detectable Residual Disease; Minimal Residual Disease; Residual Neoplasm; Funding; cell mediated therapies; cell-based therapeutic; cell-based therapy; cellular therapy; Cell Therapy; Therapeutic; Malignant Tumor of the Prostate; Malignant prostatic tumor; Prostate CA; Prostate Cancer; Prostatic Cancer; Malignant neoplasm of prostate; Hematologic Cancer; Hematologic Malignancies; Hematological Malignancies; Hematological Neoplasms; Hematological Tumor; Hematopoietic Cancer; Malignant Hematologic Neoplasm; Hematologic Neoplasms; Autologous; 65+ years old; Aged 65 and Over; age 65 and greater; age 65 and older; aged 65 and greater; aged ≥65; old age; human old age (65+); synergism; cohort; Toxicities; Toxic effect; complete response; In complete remission; Reporting; lymphoid cancers; lymphoid malignancy; Malignant lymphoid neoplasm; Second Cancer; Secondary Malignancy; Secondary Malignant Neoplasm; secondary cancer; Second Primary Cancers; response; cancer therapy; Cancer Treatment; Malignant Neoplasm Therapy; Malignant Neoplasm Treatment; anti-cancer therapy; anticancer therapy; cancer-directed therapy; cancer care; Drops; preventing; prevent; Progressive Disease; Dose; Data; Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Iowa; Cancer Center; Comprehensive Cancer Center; Enrollment; enroll; pre-clinical; preclinical; treatment center; design; designing; Sepsis; blood infection; bloodstream infection; leukemia/lymphoma; lymphoma/leukemia; innovation; innovate; innovative; chemotherapy; novel therapeutics; new drug treatments; new drugs; new therapeutics; new therapy; next generation therapeutics; novel drug treatments; novel drugs; novel therapy; FDA approved; patient population; standard of care; Regimen; arm; hematopoietic cell transplantation; hematopoietic cellular transplantation; trial design; Formulation; clinical development; side effect; chimeric antigen receptor T cells; CAR T cells; CAR modified T cells; T cells for CAR; chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells; chimeric antigen receptor modified T cells

Phase II

Contract Number: 5R44CA272096-02
Start Date: 6/10/2022    Completed: 4/30/2024
Phase II year
2023
Phase II Amount
$999,999
Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL) is the 7th most common cancer in the U.S., with over half of the 77,240 people diagnosed annually over age 65. In about 50% of cases, disease recurs or relapses, typically within two years of initial treatment, and in some patients disease is refractory to additional treatment (Refractory/Relapsed, R/R). Salvage therapy in these patients consists of stronger chemotherapy cocktails or more recently, cell therapy or hematopoietic cell transplantation. Four-year survival rates are about 40% with salvage chemotherapy and 60% for ASCT. Autologous Chimeric Antigen Receptor T (CarT) cell products have triggered great response rates in clinical trials and real-world use for some types of R/R NHL. However, the therapies are not curative with up to 46% relapsing within 2 weeks to 8.5 months even with negative minimal residual disease (MRD); they are associated with significant toxicities and are restricted to administration at accredited treatment centers. AVM Biotechnology's FDA-approved trial, NCT04329728, is currently ongoing. This clinical trial includes a dose- escalation study of AVM0703 and a pivotal adaptive-design expansion cohort study in no-option patients with lymphoid malignancies who failed at least 1 prior regimen, who do not qualify for any other approved therapy, and who need treatment due to progressive disease. Currently City of Hope, UCLA, Norton Cancer Institute, Levine Cancer Institute, and University of Texas Southwestern are actively enrolling patients. Illinois Cancer Care University of Illinois and Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of Iowa are being activated. Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center, CHI Health St. Francis Hospital, Advent Health Hendersonville, Moffitt Cancer Center and MD Anderson Cancer Center will participate in the expansion cohort phase. Patients dosed to date, in compassionate use and in enrolled dose-escalation cohorts, demonstrate that AVM0703 is distinguished from other investigative drugs in this "˜terminal no-option' patient population by its absence of safety concerns, and the sites report that their patients feel great, regain appetite and energy, and durable response has been recorded. This proposal requests funding for the adaptive design expansion cohort study. Once the expansion phase dose has been determined (projected for Nov 2021 based on enrollment, safety and response to date) patients will be enrolled in 5 NHL sub-indication specific cohorts, requiring about 18 patients per arm to be able to see significant overall response rates. Adaptive design expansion studies offer a faster way to bring drugs to no-option patients and this expansion study has been specifically designed to meet FDA guidance for a marketing application. In the future AVM0703 will be studied in clinical trials in combination with earlier lines of therapy to determine the potential synergy of AVM0703 with standard of care to enhance complete response rate, reduce relapse rates, and potentially reduce the total number of therapeutic cycles patients require. This could significantly improve acute quality of life by reducing side-effects, reduce medical expenses and reduce long term toxicities.

Public Health Relevance Statement:
NARRATIVE AVM Biotechnology's FDA-approved trial evaluating AVM0703 in patients with lymphoid malignancies is currently ongoing. Patients dosed to date, in compassionate use and in enrolled dose-escalation cohorts, demonstrate that AVM0703 is distinguished from other investigative drugs in this "˜terminal no-option' patient population by its absence of safety concerns, and the sites report that their patients feel great, regain appetite and energy, and durable response has been recorded. This proposal requests funding for the pivotal adaptive- design expansion cohort portion of this trial in no-option patients with lymphoid malignancies who failed at least 1 prior regimen, who do not qualify for any other approved therapy, and who need treatment due to progressive disease in order to rapidly advance AVM0703 clinical development and obtain FDA approval to enter the market.

Project Terms:
Acceleration; accredited; Accreditation; Desire for food; Appetite; Biotechnology; Biotech; Malignant Neoplasms; Cancers; Malignant Tumor; malignancy; neoplasm/cancer; Cities; Clinical Protocols; Clinical Trials; Cohort Studies; Concurrent Studies; Dexamethasone; Diagnosis; Disease; Disorder; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Drugs; Medication; Pharmaceutic Preparations; drug/agent; Future; Glioblastoma; Grade IV Astrocytic Neoplasm; Grade IV Astrocytic Tumor; Grade IV Astrocytoma; glioblastoma multiforme; spongioblastoma multiforme; Health; Hospitals; Illinois; Indiana; B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Acute B-Lymphocytic Leukemia; B cell progenitor acute lymphoblastic leukemia; B-ALL; B-Cell Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia; B-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia; B-cell ALL; B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia; Pre-B-Cell Leukemia; Precursor B Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma; Nonhodgkins Lymphoma; non-Hodgkins disease; Marketing; Persons; New Mexico; Patients; Quality of life; QOL; Relapse; Request for Proposals; Safety; Survival Rate; Texas; Transplantation; transplant; Universities; Salvage-Tx; Salvage Therapy; Label; improved; Site; Acute; Refractory; Phase; Medical; Detectable Residual Disease; Minimal Residual Disease; Residual Tumors; residual disease; Residual Neoplasm; Funding; Relapsed Disease; Recurrent disease; cell mediated therapies; cell-based therapeutic; cell-based therapy; cellular therapeutic; cellular therapy; Cell Therapy; Therapeutic; Malignant neoplasm of prostate; Malignant Tumor of the Prostate; Malignant prostatic tumor; Prostate CA; Prostate Cancer; Prostate malignancy; Prostatic Cancer; Hematologic Neoplasms; Hematologic Cancer; Hematologic Malignancies; Hematological Malignancies; Hematological Neoplasms; Hematological Tumor; Hematopoietic Cancer; Malignant Hematologic Neoplasm; Autologous; human old age (65+); 65+ years old; Aged 65 and Over; age 65 and greater; age 65 and older; aged 65 and greater; aged ≥65; old age; synergism; cohort; Toxic effect; Toxicities; In complete remission; complete response; Agreement; Reporting; Malignant lymphoid neoplasm; lymphoid cancers; lymphoid malignancy; Second Primary Cancers; Second Cancer; Secondary Malignancy; Secondary Malignant Neoplasm; secondary cancer; response; Cardiotoxicity; Cardiac Toxicity; Cardiotoxic; cancer therapy; Cancer Treatment; Malignant Neoplasm Therapy; Malignant Neoplasm Treatment; anti-cancer therapy; anticancer therapy; cancer-directed therapy; cancer care; Drops; preventing; prevent; Progressive Disease; Dose; Data; Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Iowa; Cancer Center; Comprehensive Cancer Center; Enrollment; enroll; pre-clinical; preclinical; treatment center; designing; design; blood infection; bloodstream infection; Sepsis; lymphoma/leukemia; leukemia/lymphoma; innovate; innovative; innovation; chemotherapy; new drug treatments; new drugs; new pharmacological therapeutic; new therapeutics; new therapy; next generation therapeutics; novel drug treatments; novel drugs; novel pharmaco-therapeutic; novel pharmacological therapeutic; novel therapy; novel therapeutics; FDA approved; patient population; standard of care; Regimen; arm; hematopoietic cellular transplantation; hematopoietic cell transplantation; trial design; Formulation; clinical development; side effect; CAR T cells; CAR modified T cells; CAR-T; CAR-Ts; T cells for CAR; chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells; chimeric antigen receptor fusion protein T-cells; chimeric antigen receptor modified T cells; chimeric antigen receptor T cells; patient enrollment; participant enrollment