AUSTIN, Texas & SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. & HAMILTON, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Triumvira Immunologics (“Triumvira”), a clinical-stage company developing novel, targeted autologous and allogeneic T cell therapeutics that co-opt the natural biology of T cells to treat patients with cancer, today announced preclinical data for its investigational TAC-T cell therapies CLDN18.2-TAC T and GUCY2C-TAC T, and data on HER2-specific TAC-T products. Data was shared in three posters at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 37th Annual Meeting being held virtually and in-person in Boston.
“We are encouraged by our preclinical results to-date, which further demonstrate that our proprietary T cell Antigen Coupler (TAC) technology is versatile, and can achieve effective and specific tumor targeting,” said Andreas Bader, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Triumvira. “We are excited to be one step closer to moving CLDN18.2-TAC T towards entering clinical development. The data showed that CLDN18.2-TAC T and GUCY2C-TAC T could be an effective treatment for hard to treat solid tumors."
Preclinical studies of TAC01-CLDN18.2 in the treatment of gastric cancer (Abstract #: 294)
Triumvira announced updated data on its novel T cell antigen coupler (TAC)-T cell candidate targeting Claudin 18.2 (CLDN18.2) for the treatment of gastric cancer. The data continue to demonstrate that CLDN18.2-TAC T effectively eliminates CLDN18.2-expressing gastric cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. The study also demonstrated that the activation of CLDN18.2-TAC T cells was specific to target cells that expressed CLDN18.2. In vitro data show strong and persistent anti-tumor activity and in vivo treatment led to complete and sustained tumor clearance with no signs of toxicity.
Development of GUCY2C-TAC T cells for the treatment of colorectal cancer (Abstract #: 201)
Triumvira’s poster featured a first look into preclinical results for its TAC-T cell therapy candidate designed to target guanylyl cyclase2C (GUCY2C) to treat colorectal cancer. GUCY2C is a receptor that is frequently overexpressed by colorectal cancer. The data demonstrated that the candidate, named GUCY2C-TAC T, effectively eliminates GUCY2C-expressing colorectal cancer cells in vitro. The study also demonstrated that the activation of GUCY2C-TAC T cells was specific to target cells that expressed GUCY2C and that off-target effects were minimal. Additionally, GUCY2C-TAC T cells led to a sustained anti-tumor activity in vivo.
Both CLDN18.2-TAC T and GUCY2C-TAC T showed no signs of auto-activation or elevated exhaustion markers post-manufacturing, which is a key feature of Triumvira’s TAC technology that is designed to enhance the durability of TAC-T products.
Evaluating anti-tumor responses by TAC-T cells in preclinical models of solid tumors (Abstract #: 261)
In a third poster, Triumvira shares data supporting the durable anti-tumor responses by TAC-T cells in preclinical models of solid tumors. The in vitro and in vivo studies assessed HER2-specific TAC-T products and challenged the cells with HER2-expressing and HER2-negative tumors to assess the kinetics of proliferation, degranulation, activation, differentiation, and memory generation by flow cytometry. The data demonstrated that HER2-specific TAC-T cells elicit an effective anti-tumor activity in multiple preclinical models, consisting of activated TAC-T cells that do not become terminally exhausted but are dominated by an activated CD8 response and supported by the expansion of a memory population, indicative of a robust self-renewal capacity.
A copy of the posters will be available after the closure of the meeting on Nov. 12, 2022 at 1:05 p.m. EST, under the Presentations & Publications tab of the News & Resources section of the Company’s website.
About Triumvira Immunologics
Triumvira is a clinical-stage company developing a best-in-class, rationally designed cell therapy platform based on its proprietary T cell Antigen Coupler (TAC) technology. Its lead candidate, TAC01-HER2, is being evaluated in an ongoing Phase 1/2 trial for HER2-positive solid tumors with positive initial safety and efficacy data to-date. Triumvira’s pipeline includes other compelling pre-clinical solid tumor programs targeting Claudin 18.2, GUCY2C and GPC3, among others, with anticipated IND filings over the next few years. Supporting the pipeline has been an industrialized, drug-like, approach to manufacturing, including the first-mover adoption of the Lonza Cocoon® Platform that has yielded high quality product and a very high manufacturing success rate at a lower cost compared to other autologous approaches. Building on the proof-of-concept of its clinical-stage autologous TAC01-HER2 program, Triumvira is continuing to develop and advance its gamma delta allogeneic pipeline with IND filings anticipated over the next three years.
