IMU Discussion

[Fact Finder]

HER-Vaxx Plus Chemotherapy Improves OS in HER2+ Advanced Gastric/GEJ Cancer

The addition of the HER2-Vaxx vaccine to standard-of-care chemotherapy led to a significant improvement in overall survival vs SOC chemotherapy alone in patients with HER2-neu overexpressing advanced and metastatic gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancer.

www.onclive.com

 

[Fact Finder]

“Ms Chong said it would pursue licensing agreements, or consider acquisition offers for its therapy candidates.

“If you have data like this showing it’s efficacious, it’s safe, and it’s safe and efficacious in a combination, it sells itself ... it gets attention,” she said.

“The dosing is also so easy. A patient comes in, they get a prick, and they go home. There’s no two hours of infusions. It saves time and resources on both the patient and the hospital.”

Imugene soars 45pc on gastric cancer trial results

Imugene is providing fresh hope for gastric cancer patients thanks to the development of an oncolytic virus that infects and breaks down cancer cells,

www.afr.com

 

[jeff2151]

Hi everyone,
I have considerable respect for Paul Hopper and believe his role in IMU is often overlooked by retail investors.
I usually have little time for the financial wheelers and dealers who all too often show little interest in their companies, outside of how much money they can make for themselves - courtesy of shareholders.

I may be wrong, but Paul seems to be quite different. He has travelled widely, mixing with the medical researchers. In his effort to understand their efforts, he has gained their trust to the point where he has been able to secure sole rights to a large body of medical innovative technology, and bring leading global researchers together, to combine their areas of expertise and so accelerate the effectiveness of their research.
IMU is a case in point. Paul has an obviously close connection with Leslie Chong; they share a strong mutual respect and level of trust. The result can be seen in the amazingly talented group of people who are now connected with IMU in one way or another. The results of this collaboration speak for themselves. And the best is still to come!

People often ask my wife how I manage to fill my days. The answer usually surprises them.... Oh, he does a lot of reading about exciting Australian companies. Like the one that's years ahead of Intel in developing artificial intelligence. And another one that's developing the cure for cancer. That's any cancer. That's enough to keep the conversation going!
So now we just wait while the clinical trials play out and the large pharmaceutical giants circle, watching; ready to pounce as soon as they are sure there's a buck in it for them.

As far as my investment goes, I sleep soundly. Leslie has the medical side well under control. Paul is a very competent financial manager. And I trust them both to lead the company in an ethical, trustworthy manner, with the patient's welfare always clearly in focus. Since I was a small child, people have been dreaming of "a cure for cancer". Now, to me it's an unbelievable miracle that it's now within reach!
Investment advisors warn against falling in love with a company. Well, I've broken that rule! So I'm clearly not an investment adviser; my thoughts should be treated as the ramblings of an old man who is excited to see sick people, who were expecting a premature death, being cured.

Jeff

 

[Hrdwk]

Wish ben was here to share his insights

 

[Iseki]

Hi everyone,
I have considerable respect for Paul Hopper and believe his role in IMU is often overlooked by retail investors.
I usually have little time for the financial wheelers and dealers who all too often show little interest in their companies, outside of how much money they can make for themselves - courtesy of shareholders.

I may be wrong, but Paul seems to be quite different. He has travelled widely, mixing with the medical researchers. In his effort to understand their efforts, he has gained their trust to the point where he has been able to secure sole rights to a large body of medical innovative technology, and bring leading global researchers together, to combine their areas of expertise and so accelerate the effectiveness of their research.
IMU is a case in point. Paul has an obviously close connection with Leslie Chong; they share a strong mutual respect and level of trust. The result can be seen in the amazingly talented group of people who are now connected with IMU in one way or another. The results of this collaboration speak for themselves. And the best is still to come!

People often ask my wife how I manage to fill my days. The answer usually surprises them.... Oh, he does a lot of reading about exciting Australian companies. Like the one that's years ahead of Intel in developing artificial intelligence. And another one that's developing the cure for cancer. That's any cancer. That's enough to keep the conversation going!
So now we just wait while the clinical trials play out and the large pharmaceutical giants circle, watching; ready to pounce as soon as they are sure there's a buck in it for them.

As far as my investment goes, I sleep soundly. Leslie has the medical side well under control. Paul is a very competent financial manager. And I trust them both to lead the company in an ethical, trustworthy manner, with the patient's welfare always clearly in focus. Since I was a small child, people have been dreaming of "a cure for cancer". Now, to me it's an unbelievable miracle that it's now within reach!
Investment advisors warn against falling in love with a company. Well, I've broken that rule! So I'm clearly not an investment adviser; my thoughts should be treated as the ramblings of an old man who is excited to see sick people, who were expecting a premature death, being cured.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

I think you have nailed the value proposition for IMU well.

You might have City of Hope coming up with new anti-cancer drugs, and they can even design the clinical trials too. That leaves IMU to sponsor the trials, and if successful, on sell the drug if it can be sold for more than they have agreed to pass back to City of Hope. That's two big "if"s.

Hopper's job is to travel the world and source new drugs to license, to find money to finance clinical trials, and to be able to on-sell any drug that has a successful clinical trial.

You don't have to rely on trust exclusively.

You can take note of
ClinicalTrial.gov numbers, and follow the official data..
Patent numbers included in the licensing deals etc

This will show, for instance, what success might look like. eg This drug has been formulated because a mouse model of the cancer will show that patients may survive 30% longer with this drug than without it." You can then compare this information with other clinical trials being offered for other drugs.

You can have a small parcel of shares in each of the many companies similar to IMU or you can play the momentum game and pick winners based on what shares you think will become increasingly popular.

One cold-shower of reality you'll find if you ever look after a family member suffering cancer, is that outcomes can seem random. As soon as it looks like the cancer is being killed off, it adapts to the drug, and comes back as strong as ever. Unless you are one of the lucky few.

 

[Hrdwk]

HER-VAXX trial results explained

 

[jeff2151]

Wish ben was here to share his insights

I agree! Ben has produced some terrific writing to explain what IMU is doing and I still check out his posts on HC. It's such a shame that some of his recent writings have been moderated over there before I've had a chance to fully digest them. His work would be so much more appreciated here, but I have no way to contact him. We are SOooo..... fortunate to be able to share our thoughts and research freely here!!
I have lived for long enough to have lost literally dozens of friends and family to cancer, so am well aware of the horrendous side-effects and heart-breaking reappearances that are part and parcel of present-day standard of care.
Leslie Chong is hoping to change all that! Leading in the clinic, she helped Genentech grow into the leading oncology company it is today, by collaborating with major pharmaceutical companies like Roche, Nimbus and Newlink.
Based on the company's past statements I think IMU intends to follow the same pattern, advancing its own drugs in the clinic by collaborating with Roche, Cellularity, and other big companies who seem keen to join their program. I don't believe they are looking to be taken over. Rather, they would like to see Imugene develop into another Genentech. And they have the oncolytic viruses to do it with.
That's the way I see it, based on my own research. But I'm not an investment advisor, so don't invest your hard-earned money relying on my thoughts, but look at all the material issued by IMU, including their company videos.
Good luck, whatever you decide!
Jeff

 

[Iseki]

"I have lived for long enough to have lost literally dozens of friends and family to cancer, so am well aware of the horrendous side-effects and heart-breaking reappearances that are part and parcel of present-day standard of care."

You can always just donate money to reputable cancer research organizations like https://www.petermac.org/

You can get involved with these organizations and volunteer and make a real difference.

But no. You want to make some money as well.

Maybe figure out what you really want, and go for gold!

 

[jeff2151]

"I have lived for long enough to have lost literally dozens of friends and family to cancer, so am well aware of the horrendous side-effects and heart-breaking reappearances that are part and parcel of present-day standard of care."

You can always just donate money to reputable cancer research organizations like https://www.petermac.org/

You can get involved with these organizations and volunteer and make a real difference.

But no. You want to make some money as well.

Maybe figure out what you really want, and go for gold!

Hi Iseki,
Let me begin by expressing my genuine sympathy for your ordeal of caring for a family member with cancer. Believe me, as I said in the post you quoted, I really do know what that is like.

I was very surprised and a little perplexed by the aggressive nature of your response to me. It's not what I expect to find on this forum. We do not know each other and am hoping that I've not posted something here to upset you. Should this be the case, I apologise as it is never my intention to upset others - and certainly not where cancer is concerned.

Having lost many good friends and three close family members to cancer, I can assure you that I have made significant donations to "reputable cancer research organisations", as you suggest I should.

Unfortunately, I am elderly, disabled, in poor health, and so am always at home. I say this, not to seek sympathy, but so you'll understand that your suggestion that I "get involved" and "volunteer and make a real difference" is not a possibility for me.

You imply that all I "really want" is to "make some money" and that this is something for which I should be held to account. For me, this was the most hurtful part of your response.

Well, it's true that I do really want to make some money, as quickly as I can, before I lose my mind. I long ago realised that this was a way for a severely handicapped individual to make a real difference to the lives of others. When a panel of doctors assessed me as being "unfit for any form of employment", I was forced into retirement, with $60,000 in the bank and a sickness benefit pension. Now I wanted each of my 6 children to have a home, and I was committed to giving regularly to charities. My mind still works as well as it needs to, so 25 years ago I decided to investigate the stock market. Since then, I've been able to give away close to $500,000, retaining only enough capital to make more money by investing. To give away.

So, Iseki, I hope you, and any who might agree with you, are now more understanding of my position. Maybe you'll feel less inclined in future to suggest I "take a cold shower of reality" when I make the (considerable) effort to post something here that I hope may help others. I wish you well.

Best wishes to all and good luck with your investments!
Jeff

 

[jeff2151]

Hi everyone, especially any IMU followers,

2022's World Conference on Lung Cancer will be held in Vienna on 6th - 9th August, and many are looking forward to IMU's involvement with the possibility of some news of how thing are progressing in the clinic. (They have done this in the past, with the information being released via an ASX announcement before the market opens on Monday.) There is so much happening for IMU that it really is hard to keep track of everything! Currently in the clinic, we have:

• VAXinia (CF33 + hNIS) Open Label, Adaptive Phase 1 Study in Mixed Advanced Solid Tumours (MAST) - both as a monotherapy and in combination, with dose escalation. Commenced in May, recruiting in Australia and USA.
• CHECKvacc (CF33 + hNIS + PD-L1) Open Label, Phase 1 Investigator Sponsored Study in Triple Negative Breast Cancer in the USA. Results/ updates expected soon.
• HER-Vaxx (HER-2) Open Label, Phase 1b (completed). Phase 2 (now recruiting in Eastern Europe & Asia) Study of HER-Vaxx plus drugs from Merck, Pfizer and Merck Germany Only in Patients with HER-2 Positive Advanced Gastric Cancer, monitoring overall survival rates.
• PD1-Vaxx (PD-1) Open Label, Phase 1 Study of PD1-Vaxx in Adults with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (still recruiting in Australia) - on dose escalation. New data expected to be released at this weekend's conference. Also being tested in combination.
• B-Vaxx Phase 1 completed successfully. Phase 2 HER-2 Indication Extension and Expansion using optimal biological dose to treat solid tumours.

News from these trials could all trickle out in the coming months, as results become apparent, and there is reason to be expecting the news to be good. Now many patients, who were close to death when treated with a very low dose of PD1-Vaxx in the Phase 1 trial, are still alive today - up to three years later! - and are at home, living normally. All of IMU's drugs work in a similar way, so we can reasonably expect similar results as the trials go on. They all activate the patient's own immune system and enable it to track down and kill cancer cells while leaving all other cells alone. These drugs do not have unpleasant or harmful side-effects and no toxicity. Tests have shown that the drugs given as simple injection, remain in the patients blood for quite some time, locating and killing off the cancer cells, working much like a vaccine.

Don't take my word for it. I'm not a doctor or a biologist! Go to the IMU website, https://www.imugene.com, and check out all the information on there. Under the "About" menu, you can learn about the qualifications of the people involved. Under "Technology" there's plenty of reading and a bunch of videos to watch. I suggest you set aside some time on the weekend, if you can, to learn a little about this company. It'll be time well spent.

In case you're wondering, I am in no way connected with IMU or any of its employees. I'm just a retired old guy who's taken the time to investigate this company because it seems to tick all the right boxes - so I've invested some of my savings in it. I am now roughly equally invested in BRN, IMU and WBT. And I should add that I have an adequate government superannuation income, so my investments are to raise money to give to others. In other words, it's not money I need to live on.

Good luck with your financial management and your investment decisions.

Jeff

 

[Fact Finder]

ASX Announcement
Imugene doses first patient in nextHERIZON Phase 2 clinical trial
Sydney, Australia, 8 September 2022: Imugene Limited (ASX:IMU), a clinical stage immuno-oncology company, is pleased to announce the first patient has been dosed in the nextHERIZON Phase 2 clinical trial investigating Imugene's immunotherapy candidate HER-Vaxx in combination with chemotherapy or pembrolizumab in patients with HER-2+ gastric cancer.
The first patient was dosed at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide, Australia, under the direction of the Principal Investigator Professor Tim Price. Imugene expects to open additional study sites in Australia, as well as the USA under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigational new drug (IND) approval received in December 2021.
Commencement of the trial comes following ethics approval announced on 10 May 2022. The open-label, multi-center, signal generating, Phase 2 clinical trial is designed to assess the safety and efficacy of HER-Vaxx in combination with chemotherapy or pembrolizumab in patients with metastatic HER-2/neu over- expressing gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinomas, who have previously progressed on trastuzumab. The study’s primary endpoints are safety and response rate, while secondary endpoints include duration of response, progression free survival, overall survival, and biomarker evaluation.
Imugene’s M.D. & CEO, Ms Leslie Chong said: “Evidence to date has shown the potential to overcome resistance to immunotherapy within GI cancers by increasing cytotoxic and effector immune cells within the tumour microenvironment. Immunotherapies such as HER-Vaxx, particularly in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors such as pembrolizumab, may hold the solution. With the promising results we've seen from HER-Vaxx thus far, we're particularly eager to take the next step in its development with this trial and ideally improve outcomes for patients with this difficult to treat cancer.”
Full details on the study can be viewed at: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05311176 For more information please contact:

 

[Slymeat]

Leslie Chong was quick to get info out following the bad market response to yesterdays (IMHO brilliant) announcement.

I rest assured that the market doesn't always make sense and must some day give in to reason. The potential to treat more than 90% of cancers is brilliant, and if it becomes proven, that will save the lives of SO MANY.

These wheels turn painfully slowly, but at least they turn.

Imugene CEO Leslie Chong commented that "our onCARlytics platform opens up the possibility to treat solid tumours with existing CD19 targeting drugs. Solid tumours account for more than 90% of cancers diagnosed, and our technology has the potential to change the outcomes for these patients. We are excited to see how Arovella's iNKT cell platform and other drugs in our trial perform on the back of our platform. We are delighted to work with another Australian-based biotechnology company focussing on cancer treatment."



Learn more: https://bit.ly/3DUmf5c

 

[Iseki]

Leslie Chong was quick to get info out following the bad market response to yesterdays (IMHO brilliant) announcement.

I rest assured that the market doesn't always make sense and must some day give in to reason. The potential to treat more than 90% of cancers is brilliant, and if it becomes proven, that will save the lives of SO MANY.

These wheels turn painfully slowly, but at least they turn.

Imugene CEO Leslie Chong commented that "our onCARlytics platform opens up the possibility to treat solid tumours with existing CD19 targeting drugs. Solid tumours account for more than 90% of cancers diagnosed, and our technology has the potential to change the outcomes for these patients. We are excited to see how Arovella's iNKT cell platform and other drugs in our trial perform on the back of our platform. We are delighted to work with another Australian-based biotechnology company focussing on cancer treatment."



Learn more: https://bit.ly/3DUmf5c

Hi SM,

What can you tell us about PHopper's shareholding in Arovella? Can you remember if he is still a holder?

 

[Slymeat]

Hi SM,

What can you tell us about PHopper's shareholding in Arovella? Can you remember if he is still a holder

That seems an odd question to ask me—I know nothing about Paul Hopper's shareholdings in Arovella or any other company. I only know he is a co-founder of Imugene and probably has a decent share holding in that.

 

[Iseki]

That seems an odd question to ask me—I know nothing about Paul Hopper's shareholdings in Arovella or any other company. I only know he is a co-founder of Imugene and probably has a decent share holding in that.

Don't worry then. I have an unhealthy paranoia about money mixing with health and when it comes to cancer cures, it gets out of control.

Strange but true: In the UK, the Cancer Act is designed to protect cancer patients and the public from being bombarded with adverts for cancer treatments, from any source, including medical professionals, pharmaceutical companies, alternative practitioners, or anyone else.

It's quite possible that the Cancer Act is delaying a cure for cancer. Who knows?

If memory serves me right P Hopper was a director of Arovella up until quite recently, and probably has a lot of stock, and will have done quite well out of this announcement.

Let's see if the ASX hands out speeding tickets. There is no $ value mentioned in the announcement, as far as my myopia allows me to see.

 

[Slymeat]

I thought I would repeat this post here in case people didn't notice the announcement. Diamond Equities Research have initiated coverage of Imugene and produced a report that is a really good read, it is concise, thorough, and I believe quite unbiased. It is a good references source for all you need to know about the business Imugene is involved in.

Diamond Equities Research provide an evaluation of $0.48 per share. Much lower than the $0.71 estimate recently made by Roth Capital Partners (14 Aug 2022) but still respectable as it is close to triple the last traded price of $0.185 and is quite impressive, especially when considering they have used rather low probability of success for trials of 35% for HER-Vaxx and 15% for all other phase 1 trials. I find those probabilities to be quite low considering the positive results that have already been released, especially for trials that have proven safety and efficacy in human patients, and are already in phase 2 (HER-Vaxx).

Imugene Diamond Equities Research Coverage 29 Sep 2022.pdf

This coverage forms a VERY complete reference for a lot of what Imugene is about. Its 32 pages cover the company workings, all current trials and competitors. But what I found enthralling reading was the level of detail afforded to discussing the various forms of cancers involved and treatment methodologies. I found this coverage to be a great sourced of information that appears to be unbiased. It is well worth the read.

Competitors exist! Treatments already exist for some forms of cancer! But geeze these are expensive—average cost: US$150,000 per year, with ongoing treatment required. e.g. a current Gastric Cancer drug (nivolumab) costs $187kUS per year. Even a relatively cheap drug Trastuzumab costs $76,500 per year.

These drugs are expensive because they are costly to manufacture. Comparatively, therapeutic cancer vaccines have a lower cost of production and they can be produced in large batches.

Imugene aims to provide a better treatment, at much cheaper cost, and drawing on stimulation of immune memory to not require follow-up treatment. As stated in the coverage:
"Therapeutic cancer vaccines, on the other hand, provide an attractive alternative solution due to their potential safety, specificity, lower cost of production, improved efficacy, and long-lasting response—perhaps even cures—due to stimulation of immune memory. Cancer vaccines are believed to hold even greater market potential given the apparent advantages over mAbs contingent on successful FDA approvals."

 

[Slymeat]

Here's a short, and easy to read article that is worth a read for anyone invested in this area, or even anyone interested in ways of treating cancer.

Immunotherapy is the alternative to the current treatment of cut out as much as you can, then bombard the whole body with enough poison (chemotherapy) to kill remaining cancer cells and hopefully leave the rest of the body alone, and then targeted radiation treatment—especially for brain tumors.

Supporting the our wonderful immune system to do its job and seek out these rougue cells that are masters of disguise, seems the most appropriate form of treatment.

Immunotherapy gives a real chance of seeking out and destroying ALL cancer cells. We all know that it only takes one remaining cell to cause the cancer to return. I for one hope immunotherapy does end up being the cure that mankind needs. Far too many lives are cut short, and devastated, by this insidious disease.

Immunotherapy - the new hope for cancer treatment

Here's a small teaser
"The stakes are high in the search for a new breed of cancer cures with the global oncology market worth a reported USD$141.33 billion and expected to grow to USD$394.24 billion by 2027."

 

[Iseki]

Here's a short, and easy to read article that is worth a read for anyone invested in this area, or even anyone interested in ways of treating cancer.

Immunotherapy is the alternative to the current treatment of cut out as much as you can, then bombard the whole body with enough poison (chemotherapy) to kill remaining cancer cells and hopefully leave the rest of the body alone, and then targeted radiation treatment—especially for brain tumors.

Supporting the our wonderful immune system to do its job and seek out these rougue cells that are masters of disguise, seems the most appropriate form of treatment.

Immunotherapy gives a real chance of seeking out and destroying ALL cancer cells. We all know that it only takes one remaining cell to cause the cancer to return. I for one hope immunotherapy does end up being the cure that mankind needs. Far too many lives are cut short, and devastated, by this insidious disease.

Immunotherapy - the new hope for cancer treatment

Here's a small teaser
"The stakes are high in the search for a new breed of cancer cures with the global oncology market worth a reported USD$141.33 billion and expected to grow to USD$394.24 billion by 2027."

Another link is

Why doesn’t the immune system attack cancer cells? Science surgery:

The short answer is it does! But sometimes it needs a helping hand from exciting new treatments.

news.cancerresearchuk.org

it's not a marketing company, and it only has doctors, but it's still pretty good.

 

[Slymeat]

Another link is

Why doesn’t the immune system attack cancer cells? Science surgery:

The short answer is it does! But sometimes it needs a helping hand from exciting new treatments.

news.cancerresearchuk.org

it's not a marketing company, and it only has doctors, but it's still pretty good.

That is a god read. Thanks for sharing @Iseki.

The ability of cancer cells to avoid the immune system is why I am excited by the approach Imugene is investigating:

1. using virology to target cancer cells (and ONLY cancer cells) that are hiding from the immune system
2. marking cancer cells so that CAR-T cells (or supercharged T cells) can once again attack them
3. multiplying within the cancer cell and, on cell death, being released to seek out other cancer cells and mark them for destruction

CF33 (only one of Imugene’s products) by itself can cause cell death of the cancer cells it infiltrates, but when assisted by CAR-T cells, then this should be a well-directed double attack to obliterate cancer cells. The OMNI-CAR cells from Precient (ASXTX) show amazing promiss.

If nothing else, CF33 (also known as Vaxinia) can be tracked in the body, so imaging can then find tumours that were previously undiagnosed. They ARE very good at hiding, especially when small.

 

[oxxa23]