Ziopharm Oncology (NASDAQ:ZIOP) dosed the first patient in its Phase 1/2 trial evaluating controlled IL-12 for the treatment of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG).
Ziopharm’s controlled IL-12 is a gene therapy designed to induce and control production of IL-12, which plays a major role in immune system regulation.
The trial is designed to evaluate the safety and tolerability of a single intratumoral injection of an adenoviral vector administered with up to 14 days of oral veledimex. Up to 12 patients may be enrolled in the Phase 1 portion of the study.
“One of the hallmark characteristics of DIPG is that immune cells cannot access the tumor, yet the microenvironment is not immunosuppressive,” Dr. Stewart Goldman, the study’s investigator, said in a statement.
“Extensive experience, as well as encouraging survival data associated with treating recurrent glioblastoma in adults, underscores our desire to evaluate controlled IL-12 in children with gliomas, who currently lack viable treatment options,” he added.
