Michelle Rashford, Executive Director, Clinical Development
In particular, we are investigating whether using I-O therapies earlier in the disease might help improve outcomes for those whose cancers are locally advanced, in either neoadjuvant, consolidation or adjuvant settings. If we can identify the most appropriate timing, dosing and duration of I-O therapy that favorably and safely alters the course of disease, we might be able to offer more patients an effective means of improving their survival.
Our approach is based on the well-established precedent of neoadjuvant intervention in a number of cancers. Neoadjuvant use aims to alter the disease prior to subsequent treatments. For example, neoadjuvant use of chemotherapies often is employed to shrink solid tumors as a prelude for surgery, with the goal of less extensive and easier operations and reduced associated morbidities. Neoadjuvant treatments can also help to down-stage tumors and curtail micrometastisis. Consolidation and adjuvant therapies aim to thwart cancer recurrence after initial treatment, particularly in metastatic sites. Whereas consolidation therapy may be used after chemotherapy or radiation, adjuvant cancer therapy is typically applied after surgery.
