Lokon Pharma Announces Collaboration to Combine LOAd703 Oncolytic Virotherapy with Checkpoint Blockade in Pancreatic Cancer and Melanoma
Pressmeddelanden • Jul 03, 2019 08:31 CEST
Uppsala, Sweden, July 3, 2019 - Lokon Pharma AB - which is currently developing LOAd703, a potent double-armed (TMZ-CD40L/4-1BBL) oncolytic adenovirus, for solid malignancies - announced a collaboration with Roche combining LOAd703 and Roche’s anti-PD-L1 checkpoint antibody atezolizumab (Tecentriq®) in pancreatic cancer and melanoma. An ongoing phase I/IIa study (LOKON001) at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer will be expanded to include atezolizumab , and a new multicenter Phase I/II trial for checkpoint-resistant melanoma testing the same immunotherapeutic combination will be opened at the end of this year (LOKON003).
“LOAd703, with two highly immunostimulatory genes, may have the capacity to act on these immunologically ‘cold’ tumors and sensitize them to checkpoint blockade antibodies,” said Dr. Angelica Loskog, the CEO of Lokon Pharma. She continues, “We are excited to combine LOAd703 with atezolizumab given our current study results and supporting preclinical in vivo data, and we feel fortunate to collaborate with Roche in these two distinctly different cancer indications that may benefit to the combination therapy.”
“The results from our ongoing clinical trial combining LOAd703 with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel demonstrate promising early clinical activity, and I am eager to see if adding atezolizumab to our current regimen can induce long-term survivors in this devastating disease. We hope to begin enrollment using the combination of LOAd703, atezolizumab, and gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel this fall,” said Dr. Benjamin Musher, principal investigator of LOKON001 at Baylor College of Medicine’s NCI-designated Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Lokon Pharma AB is a Swedish biotech company developing the LOAd platform of oncolytic adenoviruses genetically engineered to express immunostimulatory genes in the tumor and its stroma. LOAd703 (delolimogene mupadenorepvec) is the first clinical candidate from the platform expressing the TMZ-CD40L and 4-1BBL, two potent stimulators of dendritic cells as well as T- and NK cell responses. Currently, two trials are ongoing evaluating LOAd703 in pancreatic cancer in the US (LOKON001), pancreatic-, biliary-, colorectal-, and ovarian cancer (LOKON002) in Europe. LOKON003 evaluating melanoma will be initiated in 2019.
An agreement between Lokon Pharma and Roche.....
First Patient Treated by a Novel Oncolytic Virus Armed with Immune Stimulators
Pressmeddelanden • Jan 19, 2017 13:14 CET
Uppsala, Sweden, January 19, 2017 - The first patient has been treated with LOAd703 at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. LOAd703 is an immunostimulating oncolytic adenovirus developed by Lokon Pharma. The study is enrolling patients with pancreatic cancer who are not eligible for surgical resection. Patients will receive six intratumoral injections of LOAd703 in combination with standard gemcitabine-based chemotherapy. The primary endpoints of the study are safety and feasibility.
“There is increasing demand for novel therapeutics targeting pancreatic cancer. So far, checkpoint inhibitors and targeted therapies have not yielded the impressive results in pancreatic cancer that they have in other malignancies” says Dr. Benjamin Musher, Principal Investigator of LOKON-001 at Baylor College of Medicine. He continues, “This engineered virus, however, acts like a Trojan horse by infiltrating tumor cells and altering the desmoplastic and immunosuppressive microenvironment that protect them from antineoplastic agents. We hope that this virus will demonstrate local therapeutic benefit by triggering a systemic immune response, and attack distant metastases as well.”
“LOAd703 is designed to kill tumor cells, but not normal cells, by a process called oncolysis,” explains Dr Angelica Loskog, CEO of Lokon. “What is special with our virus is that it is armed with two potent human immunostimulatory genes that can activate the body’s immune system to attack the tumor. Further, these stimulators have the capacity to change the tumor’s microenvironment so the tumor becomes more sensitive to cancer therapeutics in general,” she continues. Previous data generated at Uppsala University, Sweden with a predecessor virus, AdCD40L, showed promising results in patients with malignant melanoma earlier this year (Loskog et al Br J Cancer 2016). Lokon’s new optimized virus has been designed to provide more potent viral uptake, enhanced immune activation, and alteration of the tumor’s hostile microenvironment.
Contact information
Angelica Loskog, Ph.D., Professor
CEO Lokon Pharma AB
Lokon Pharma AB is a Swedish biotech company focusing on the development of novel immunotherapeutics. It is a subsidiary of Nexttobe AB and its science derives from research ongoing at Uppsala University.
Om Lokon Pharma AB
Lokon Pharma develops cutting edge cancer immunotherapeutics
Lokon Pharma AB is a Swedish biotech company focusing on the development of novel immunotherapeutics. It is a subsidiary of Nexttobe AB and its science derives from research ongoing at Uppsala University.
Adress
- Lokon Pharma AB
- Uppsala Science Park
- 751 83 Uppsala
- Sverige