Biotechnology firms are increasingly turning to innovative combination therapies to tackle hard-to-treat cancers, with promising results sparking investor interest. AIM ImmunoTech Inc. ( AIM ) is the latest to capture attention, as its stock soars following a promising mid-year update from the DURIPANC Phase 2 study.

The study is evaluating Ampligen (rintatolimod) in combination with AstraZeneca Plc’s anti-PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, Imfinzi (durvalumab), in metastatic pancreatic cancer patients with stable disease following FOLFIRINOX treatment.

The DURIPANC study, a collaboration with AstraZeneca ( AZN ) and Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, is an investigator-initiated, exploratory, open-label, single-center study expected to enroll up to 25 subjects in the Phase 2 portion.

As of the mid-year report, 14 subjects had been enrolled in DURIPANC. The primary objective of the study is to determine the clinical benefit rate of the combination therapy; the secondary/exploratory objectives include assessing overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and initiating immune monitoring using available tissue biopsies and peripheral immune profiling.

Following FOLFIRINOX, maintenance or second-line immunotherapies have historically shown limited survival benefit in comparison trials. Compared to these data, the DURIPANC study mid-year report shows continuing promising early signs of both no significant toxicity and superior PFS and OS:

No significant toxicity, an encouraging safety profile for a post-chemo setting.

Around 21% of patients have progression-free survival (PFS) of over 6 months (3/14), with an additional 21% not yet progressed.

The majority (64%) of eligible patients had an overall survival of over 6 months, which is better than expected in this setting.

AIM has developed an intellectual property plan specific to pancreatic cancer that includes a recently issued U.S. patent for Ampligen as an oncology treatment in combination with an anti-PD-L1, extending protection to Aug. 9, 2039.

AIM Price Action: AIM ImmunoTech ( AIM ) shares were up 36.79% at $11.49 at the time of publication on Monday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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