Abstract Describing Use of Oregovomab in Pancreatic Cancer to be Published in JCO as Part of ASCO 2018 Meeting

Induction of CA-125 Specific Immune Response by Oregovomab Chemoimmunotherapy in Pancreatic Cancer Patients

TSX Venture: QPT

EDMONTON, June 1, 2018 /CNW/ - Quest PharmaTech Inc. (TSX-V: QPT) ("Quest" or the "Company"), a pharmaceutical company developing and commercializing products to improve the quality of life, today announced that its subsidiary, OncoQuest Inc., has published an abstract, titled "A Phase II Study of Neoadjuvant Chemoimmunotherapy Followed by Stereotactic Radiotherapy/Nelfinavir in Patients with Locally Advanced CA125 Expressing Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma" in the Journal of Clinical Oncology 36, 2018 (Suppl; asbt.e16202) as part of the Proceedings of American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, to be held June 1 to June 5, 2018, in Chicago, Illinois.

This physician sponsored clinical study was conducted at the University of Nebraska Medical Center with Dr. Chi Lin as the principal investigator, to evaluate the safety, immune response and efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with and without Oregovomab, OncoQuest's anti-CA-125 antibody followed by hypo fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy and concurrent HIV protease inhibitor, nelfinavir, in patients with locally advanced CA-125 positive pancreatic cancer. Nelfinavir has been shown in previous studies to be a potent radiosensitizer.

This proof-of-concept open label study recruited a total of 11 patients, 9 of whom received oregovomab immunization. Five patients received five cycles of oregovomab chemoimmunotherapy ("CIT") and four patients received seven cycles of CIT. All nine received stereotactic radiotherapy following their cycles of CIT. Out of the four patients receiving seven cycles of CIT, two patients developed CA125-specific IFNγ positive CD8 T cell response and survived over 28 months and 31 months, respectively, compared to a median survival of 13 months in the study. The results also showed that previously demonstrated immune response associated with CIT was not negatively impacted by use of radiotherapy.

"The data continues to support that oregovomab CIT can induce antigen specific T-cell responses in cancer patients that translate into clinical benefits. It also provides further evidence that our antibody based immunotherapy is a platform technology that can be used with different cancers that express the same cancer antigen," commented Dr. Madiyalakan, CEO of Quest and OncoQuest. "We are also continuing our study of oregovomab in both front line and recurrent ovarian cancer to identify combinations which result in demonstrable clinical benefit and will provide the basis for moving this promising treatment forward to registration."

OncoQuest also announces its recent addition to "The Narwhal List of Canada's most financially attractive private tech and healthcare companies".  Compiled by the Impact Centre at the University of Toronto, "the Narwhal List ranks private Canadian companies according to their Financial Velocity, the amount of funding a firm has raised divided by the number of years it has been in existence. This metric tracks the ability of firms to scale up and reach world-class status."

About OncoQuest

OncoQuest is a subsidiary of Quest PharmaTech Inc. (TSXV-QPT) ("Quest"), and is a private biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of immunotherapies for cancer. OncoQuest's technology platform includes a portfolio of tumor antigen specific monoclonal immunoglobulins including CA-125, MUC1, PSA and Her2/neu.  We are developing protocols utilizing these antibodies in combination with other immune modulating drugs or drug combinations to enhance tumor specific immunity and clinical outcome.

OncoQuest's lead product is oregovomab, an anti-CA-125 antibody, for the treatment of ovarian cancer that has completed a frontline randomized controlled Phase 2 study. In addition, oregovomab is currently being studied in multiple Phase 2 clinical trials in the relapsed recurrent ovarian cancer setting as well. OncoQuest's anti-MUC1 antibody program has already undergone a Phase 1 clinical trial in breast cancer patients, and its development is being led by OncoVent Co. Ltd., OncoQuest's joint venture partner that has licensed the rights of our immunotherapeutic antibodies in the territory of Greater China. OncoQuest's next-generation products are based on immunoglobulin E licensed from UCLA, Stanford University and Advanced Immune Therapeutics, Inc. These antigen-specific monoclonal IgE antibodies are currently in preclinical development.

Additional information about OncoQuest can be found at the company's re-designed website, www.oncoquestinc.com.

About Quest PharmaTech Inc.

Quest PharmaTech is a publicly traded; Canadian based pharmaceutical company developing products to improve the quality of life. The Company through its subsidiary, OncoQuest and its Chinese joint venture, OncoVent, is developing antibody based immunotherapeutic products for cancer. In addition, the Company owns the Photodynamic Therapy technology for oncology and dermatology applications, licensed to Bioceltran Co., Ltd., a Korea based company (Bioceltran).  Quest has an ownership interest in Bioceltran, which is focused on SP Technology™ for transdermal delivery of drugs and photosensitizers for pharmaceutical and cosmetic purposes. Quest through another subsidiary, Madenco Biosciences, also markets consumer health products worldwide, including Bellus Skin™ serum, a premium anti-wrinkle skin care product licensed from Korea.  Quest is also developing an antibody licensed from University of Nebraska, Mab AR 9.6 against truncated O-glycan on MUC16, for targeted cancer therapy applications.

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SOURCE Quest PharmaTech Inc.

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