NetScientific's portfolio company, PDS Biotechnology Corporation, has announced preliminary immune response data from a subset of patients in the Phase 2 clinical trial VERSATILE-002. The trial is evaluating the safety and efficacy of PDS0101 in combination with Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy KEYTRUDA in patients with HPV16-positive recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. The data presented at the ESMO Congress 2023 showed that the combination of PDS0101 and KEYTRUDA led to changes towards a TH1 predominant cytokine profile, which is associated with improved killer T cell activity. The combination therapy also resulted in increased polyfunctionality in T cells, which is typically associated with enhanced killing function and anti-tumour activity. The findings align with previous studies that have reported PDS0101-induced polyfunctional CD8 T cells traffic to tumours. PDS Biotech plans to continue investigating the combination therapy in its Phase 3 study, VERSATILE-003.