A new immunotherapy cancer vaccine meant to treat patients with chemotherapy-refractory metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) is being tested in a clinical trial.

The vaccine, made by Immunovative Therapies and called CryoVax, will be tested by Banner MD Anderson Medical Center in Phoenix, a facility partnered with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

After the success of checkpoint inhibitors in a subset of melanoma and lung cancer patients, researchers believe data encourages support for immunotherapy as an effective treatment for cancer. Though immunotherapy agents have not shown promise in treating mCRC, that is what investigators hope to find with the study.

"Anti-tumor vaccines have had difficulties in translating into effective therapies in the clinic, and mCRC has been particularly resistant to immunotherapy,” said Michael Har-Noy, MD, CEO of Immunovative Therapies and the inventor of CryoVax, in a statement. “The CryoVax vaccine regimen has a unique mechanism of action and shows promise as a next generation immunotherapy.”

Har-Noy and his team will be studying various dosing frequencies while monitoring the interaction of host immune cells with tumor cells in each patient. They will be taking biopsies, CT scans and blood samples to assess the vaccine’s progress.

“This information should serve to determine if this customized in-situ vaccine approach will benefit mCRC patients,” Har-Noy said.

Study investigators are currently recruiting patients, some of which have already received initial vaccine doses. Enrollment is slated to be completed by July 2017.