BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On Monday, October 29, Senior Director of Corporate Development at Immunomic Therapeutics Inc. Sia Anagnostou will speak at the Precision Lung Cancer World R&D Summit in Boston. Anagnostou’s presentation, titled “UNITE Technology as Nucleic Acid & Cell Based Immunotherapy: TERT - LAMP Case Study,” will highlight Immunomic’s investigational UNiversal Intracellular Targeted Expression (UNITE) platform and its application in immuno-oncology. Immunomic’s technology platform has the potential to utilize the body’s natural biochemistry to develop a broad immune response, including antibody production, cytokine release and critical immunological memory, a method that could put UNITE at the crossroads of immunotherapies in a number of illnesses, including cancer. The investigational UNITE technology is currently being applied as a cancer immunotherapy in a Phase II clinical trial targeting glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Anagnostou’s presentation will explore the broader potential of UNITE through discussion of the LAMP-based immunotherapy technology, AST-VAC2 (VAC2). VAC2 is an allogeneic cancer immunotherapy being developed by Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc. in collaboration with Cancer Research UK and is currently in a Phase 1 clinical trial for treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.
Who: Sia Anagnostou, Senior Director of Corporate Development at Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc.
What: Presentation on Activating Immune Responses in Cancer
When: Monday, October 29 at 4:00 p.m. EDT
Where: Wyndam Boston Beacon Hill, 5 Blossom St., Boston, MA 02114
About UNITE
ITI’s investigational UNITE platform, or UNiversal Intracellular Targeted Expression, is thought to work by encoding the Lysosomal Associated Membrane Protein, an endogenous protein in humans. In this way, ITI’s vaccines (DNA or RNA) have the potential to utilize the body’s natural biochemistry to develop a broad immune response including antibody production, cytokine release and critical immunological memory. This approach could put UNITE technology at the crossroads of immunotherapies in a number of illnesses, including cancer, allergy and infectious diseases. UNITE is currently being employed in Phase II clinical trials as a cancer immunotherapy. ITI is also collaborating with academic centers and biotechnology companies to study the use of UNITE in cancer types of high mortality, including cases where there are limited treatment options like glioblastoma and acute myeloid leukemia. ITI believes that these early clinical studies may provide a proof of concept for UNITE therapy in cancer, and if successful, set the stage for future studies, including combinations in these tumor types and others. Preclinical data is currently being developed to explore whether LAMP nucleic acid constructs may amplify and activate the immune response in highly immunogenic tumor types and be used to create immune responses to tumor types that otherwise do not provoke an immune response.
About Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc.
Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc. (ITI) is a privately-held clinical stage biotechnology company pioneering the study of the LAMP-based nucleic acid immunotherapy platforms. These investigational technologies have the potential to alter how we use immunotherapy for cancer, allergies and animal health. ITI has entered into a significant licensing agreement with Astellas Pharma Inc. to explore the use of LAMP-Vax, the precursor to UNITE, an immunotherapy platform, for use in the prevention and treatment of allergic diseases. For information about ITI and UNITE technology, visit www.immunomix.com.
About Asterias Biotherapeutics
Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc. is a biotechnology company dedicated to developing cell-based therapeutics to treat neurological conditions associated with demyelination and cellular immunotherapies to treat cancer. Asterias is presently focused on advancing two clinical-stage programs which have the potential to address areas of high unmet medical need in the fields of neurology and oncology. OPC1 (oligodendrocyte progenitor cells) is currently in a Phase 1/2a dose escalation clinical trial in spinal cord injury. VAC2 (antigen-presenting allogeneic dendritic cells) is an allogeneic cancer immunotherapy. The Company's research partner, Cancer Research UK, has commenced a first-in-human clinical trial of VAC2 in non-small cell lung cancer. Asterias is also sponsoring pre-clinical work in two conditions with a demyelinating component: Multiple Sclerosis and White Matter Stroke, and is evaluating other cancer indications where its immunotherapy platform could provide therapeutic benefit. Additional information about Asterias can be found at www.asteriasbiotherapeutics.com.
