Verrica's Injectable Oncolytic Peptide Clears BCC in Early Phase 2 Data

Given via injection into the tumor, VP-315 is an oncolytic peptide specifically engineered to stimulate the patient's immune system and destroy cancer cells, while minimizing the impact on the surrounding healthy skin cells.  

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s VP-315 can clear basal cell carcinoma (BCC), according to data from Part 1 of an ongoing Phase 2 study presented at the 2023 American Academy of Dermatology Innovation Academy in Tampa, Fla.

Given via injection into the tumor, VP-315 is an oncolytic peptide specifically engineered to stimulate the patient's immune system and destroy cancer cells, while minimizing the impact on the surrounding healthy skin cells.  

For the study, subjects received once-daily dosing of VP-315, administered intratumorally, in up to two biopsy-proven BCC lesions for up to six treatments during a 2-week period. Six lesions were treated at the 8 mg dose and post-treatment clinical assessment and excisions were performed at Day 49 (Range 35-70), followed by histological evaluation.

There was consistent clinical and histological clearance of treated BCC lesions by Day 49 post-treatment with the 8-mg dose of VP-315, with four of six subjects (67%) showing complete tumor clearance. The other two subjects showed a partial response in tumor burden reduction (95% tumor clearance and 30% tumor clearance). 

There were no adverse events seen with the 8-mg dose, which was the highest dose in this dose-escalation study. 

The study is expected to enroll approximately 80 adult subjects with a histological diagnosis of BCC in at least one eligible target lesion and is expected to conclude the study in the first half of 2024.

“Surgery is the number one treatment, and as we know,  some patients are poor surgical candidates,” says Gary Goldenberg, MD, the Chief Medical Officer of Verrica Pharmaceuticals and an assistant professor of dermatology and pathology at The Icahn Sinai School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. ”This is being developed as an alternative to surgery.”

VP-315 can be used all over the body including on the face, but some areas are restricted such as the eyelids, Dr. Goldenberg tells DermWire.

“Now researchers are working on developing the exact injection regimen,” he says. “The updated protocol calls for waiting 12 weeks from injection to excision as it takes time for the immune system to clear out the tumor."