United States-based VBI Vaccines has collaborated with United Kingdom-based GlaxoSmithKline to clinically assess the combination of VBI-1901, VBI's cancer vaccine immunotherapeutic, with GSK's proprietary AS01B adjuvant system, it was reported yesterday.

Under the partnership, VBI Vaccines is planning to add an additional study arm to Part B of the company's ongoing Phase 1/2a clinical study targeting recurrent glioblastoma, a cytomegalovirus-associated tumour.

In Part A of the study, the product adjuvanted with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor was well-tolerated at all doses, while three out of six patients in a high-dose (10 µg) cohort showcased evidence of stable disease by magnetic resonance imaging that correlated with vaccine-induced immune response. The high-dose has been identified as the optimal therapeutic dose to test in the Part B extension phase of the study. Part B of the ongoing Phase 1/2a clinical study is now planned to be a two-arm, open-label study, enrolling 20 first-recurrent GBM patients to receive VBI-1901 in combination with either GM-CSF or AS01B as immunomodulatory adjuvants.