Oncolytics Biotech adds three experts to gastrointestinal advisory board

Oncolytics Biotech Inc. (NASDAQ: ONCY) announced the appointment of three gastrointestinal oncology experts to its Scientific Advisory Board for GI tumors. Dr. Eileen O'Reilly from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Neil Segal also from Memorial Sloan Kettering, and Dr. Van Morris from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center joined the board to guide development of the company's pelareorep immunotherapy across pancreatic, colorectal, and anal cancers.

Dr. O'Reilly holds the Winthrop Rockefeller Endowed Chair of Medical Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering and specializes in pancreatic cancer research. Dr. Segal serves as Research Director of the Division of Gastrointestinal Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering and focuses on translational oncology. Dr. Morris is an Associate Professor and Section Chief for Colorectal Cancer at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

The expanded advisory board now includes six members from academic and clinical institutions across North America and Europe. The existing three members are Dr. Sanjay Goel from Rutgers Cancer Institute, Dr. Deva Mahalingam from Northwestern University's Lurie Cancer Center, and Dr. Dirk Arnold from Asklepios Tumorzentrum Hamburg in Germany.

According to the company's press release, pelareorep has shown clinical activity across multiple GI cancers. In first-line pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, aggregated data from over 100 patients showed a two-year overall survival rate of approximately 22% compared to a historical benchmark of 9%. In second-line anal cancer, the combination of pelareorep with a checkpoint inhibitor produced a 30% objective response rate compared to 13.8% for standard checkpoint inhibitor monotherapy.

For second-line KRAS-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer, patients receiving pelareorep with FOLFIRI plus bevacizumab recorded 16.6 months progression-free survival and 27.0 months overall survival, compared to historical controls of 5.7 months and 11.2 months respectively.

Oncolytics plans to advance pivotal studies in all three cancer indications and continue regulatory discussions with the FDA.

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