Reading into the first wave of neoantigen results

The first clinical data from neoantigen vaccine companies have started to answer questions about the best way to quickly gauge whether patients are responding. The lessons include how to design combination trials that point to efficacy beyond checkpoint inhibition, and how to increase the rigor of ex vivo assays.

The idea that mutations from a patient's own tumor could be harnessed to treat cancer has been gaining steam for the last six years, with more than a dozen companies announcing personalized neoantigen vaccine programs. Each player has developed its own strategies for identifying neoantigens in tumors and delivering them as peptides, nucleic acids, or in microbial vectors (see "Neo Wave"). ...