Imugene Limited announced the City of Hope®, a world-renowned independent cancer research and treatment center near Los Angeles has received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Investigational New Drug (IND) approval to initiate a Phase I clinical trial of its oncolytic virotherapy candidate, CHECKvacc (CF33-hNIS-antiPDL1) on 30 June 2021. The FDA approval of the IND allows Imugene and City of Hope to start patient recruitment and dosing in a Phase 1 clinical trial for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the safety and initial evidence of efficacy of intra-tumoral administration of CF33-hNIS-antiPDL1 against metastatic TNBC. The trial will involve a dose escalation, followed by an expansion to 12 patients at the final dose, the recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D). CF33-hNIS-antiPDL1 is an immune checkpoint inhibitor armed chimeric vaccinia poxvirus from the lab of CF33 inventor Professor Yuman Fong, Chair of Sangiacomo Family Chair in Surgical Oncology at City of Hope, and a noted expert in the oncolytic virus field.