Quibim, a global medical imaging analysis specialist, has joined Highlight Therapeutics, a clinical-stage company specialising in immuno-oncology, to assess the efficacy of new immunotherapy treatments in advanced melanoma skin cancer using AI in a Phase II clinical trial in Spain.

The alliance will analyse the information contained in radiological scans and correlate these findings with biological changes in patients who are treated with pembrolizumab and BO-112, a synthetic double stranded RNA that is administered as intratumoral therapy in advanced melanoma.

WHY IT MATTERS

Assessing efficacy in terms of response rate and correlating it with tumour biomarkers will help better understand different patterns of response, a task that remains challenging in immunotherapy, especially with intratumoral treatments.

The study will use Quibim’s AI-fed whole-body imaging ecosystem to correlate radiomic signatures with immunohistochemistry biomarkers to identify those patients who will benefit the most from immunotherapy.

THE LARGER TREND

Global incidence of melanoma has reached epidemic proportions and cases are expected to grow to almost half a million by 2040, according to the World Health Organisation.

The trial will bring much needed evidence on those patients who may benefit the most from the new approach and improve treatment for melanoma, by helping overcome current pitfalls in treatment response evaluation.

ON THE RECORD 

“We are facing the unmet medical need of treating patients who have developed progressive disease to immunotherapy,” said Dr Sonia Macia, medical director of Highlight Therapeutics. “We will try to overcome this resistance by adding BO-112 to pembrolizumab, an approved anti-PD1 drug, which is currently indicated in the treatment of several solid tumours. Confirming the biological changes in injected lesions and correlating these findings with imaging features may help us predict which patients will have a better response to therapy.”

“Quibim is committed to the discovery of new imaging biomarkers that can later be applied in clinical practice,” commented Dr Ángel Alberich-Bayarri, Quibim CEO and Co-founder. “Oncology and more specifically immunotherapy are key areas where quantitative imaging plays a pivotal role. Having objective measures can help improve the evaluation of treatment response and save lives, by identifying early on who will benefit the most from a specific approach.”