07:34 AM EDT, 05/24/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Oncolytics Biotech ( ONCY ) on Friday said it presented two abstracts ahead of the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, which runs from May 31 - June 4, 2024, in Chicago.

The abstracts show the company's lead candidate pelareorep's role in cancer treatment. One is a trial-in-progress abstract discussing cohort 5 of the GOBLET study, which will evaluate the combination of pelareorep and modified Folfirinox (mFolfirinox) with and without atezolizumab in newly diagnosed metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients.

The second describes pelareorep's ability to induce the expansion of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) across multiple cancers and the correlation between TIL expansion and tumor response.

"The two abstracts that we are sharing at ASCO this year are in synch with our mission of advancing pelareorep towards registrational trials," said Dr. Matt Coffey, President and Chief Executive Officer of Oncolytics.

The company had previously reported that the combination of pelareorep, and the chemotherapy drugs gemcitabine, nab-paclitaxel, and atezolizumab yielded tumor response rates "nearly triple historical results."

Should pelareorep and mFolfirinox produce a similarly positive outcome, an even broader range of metastatic PDAC patients may benefit from pelareorep-based therapy, Oncolytics said. This cohort is being funded by a US$5 million grant in the form of the Therapeutic Accelerator Award from the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN). Oncolytics anticipate enrollment in this cohort will begin this quarter.