Prima BioMed Commences Recruitment for Second Cohort of Melanoma Trial

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA--(Marketwired - Jan 11, 2017) - Prima BioMed Ltd (ASX: PRR) (NASDAQ: PBMD) ("Prima" or the "Company") today announced that the first patient has been dosed for the second cohort of its clinical trial program for IMP321 in combination with KEYTRUDA® being conducted in Australia. The second cohort will recruit up to six patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma that have had a suboptimal response to KEYTRUDA.

Interim data from the first patient cohort released in December 2016 indicate IMP321 is safe and well tolerated. On the basis of this safety data, the Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) gave approval for the second cohort to commence.

TACTI-mel (Two ACTive Immunotherapeutics in melanoma) is a multicentre, open label, Phase I study in which patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma will be dosed with IMP321 in combination with the PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab (KEYTRUDA). The study will evaluate safety as the primary endpoint and anti-tumour activity and the immune response to the combination as secondary endpoints.

About IMP321

IMP321, a first-in-class Antigen Presenting Cell (APC) activator based on the immune checkpoint LAG-3, represents one of the first proposed active immunotherapy drugs in which the patient's own immune system is harnessed to respond to tumour antigenic debris created by chemotherapy. As an APC activator IMP321 boosts the network of dendritic cells in the body that can respond to tumour antigens for a better anti-tumour CD8 T cell response.

About Prima BioMed

Prima BioMed is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and on the NASDAQ in the US. For further information please visit www.primabiomed.com.au.