--World-Class Monoclonal Antibody Technology Advances Beyond Infectious Disease to Focus on Oncology Therapeutics Derived from Cancer Survivors--
--Lead Asset AT1412 On Track Towards CTA Filing in Q4 2020--
--Led by New Management Team, Including John Womelsdorf, Ph.D., and Hans van Eenennaam, Ph.D., Co-inventor of Pembrolizumab--
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, June 22, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AIMM, a privately-held biopharmaceutical company, today announced it has presented preclinical data at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2020 Virtual Annual Meeting from its antibody programs in oncology using a rich pipeline of tumor-specific antibodies from cured cancer patients.
“Recognizing that cured cancer patients have benefited, directly or indirectly, from a robust and specific antibody response, AIMM has set out to select those functional antibodies as a starting point for its drug development programs,” said John Womelsdorf, Ph.D., chief executive officer of AIMM Therapeutics. “AIMM is perfectly positioned to advance this approach; firstly, through our ability to interrogate the entire B cell repertoire of the surviving patient and identify novel targets and anti-cancer antibodies using our AIMSelect platform. And, secondly, we are able to potentiate these antibodies for use as therapies through our AIMProve platform to leverage the unique biology that was underlying the original donor’s successful clinical response.”
AIMM has a pipeline of multiple drug candidates that bind to novel cancer targets and epitopes. The company’s lead asset, AT1412, is a CD9-targeted antibody derived from a stage 4 melanoma patient with brain metastasis who was successfully treated with autologous T-cell based immunotherapy and is still tumor-free after 13 years despite having an aggressive cancer. AT1412 is going through the last stages of preclinical development for B-cell lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma (B-ALL) and CD9+ solid tumors, such as melanoma, gastric, breast, and esophageal cancers. Preclinical data from studies of AT1412 in B-ALL and melanoma tumor models show monotherapy treatment induced full tumor rejection that in the case of melanoma can be further sustained in combination with nivolumab. Two posters presented at AACR demonstrate the potential for AT1412 to be a potent antibody capable of inducing cell death and facilitating the trafficking of immune cells into the tumor microenvironment.
Additionally, several antibody candidates, such as CD3-bispecific/ADC/CAR-T assets, are in lead optimization and could provide for multiple non-dilutive partnering opportunities and co-development collaborations. AT1413, isolated from an M5 acute myeloid leukemia patient that underwent allograft stem cell transplantation, has the potential to be formatted into a CD3-bispecific, ADC or CAR-T. Another poster presented at AACR describes two different bispecific T-cell engaging forms of AT1413 that induce strong anti-tumor cytotoxic activities in AML and solid tumors like melanoma and breast carcinoma. A fourth poster presented at the AACR annual meeting reviews AT1636, an antibody targeting a cancer-specific glyco-modified antigen, which was retrieved from a patient with Lynch syndrome.
Hans van Eenennaam, Ph.D., who joined AIMM Therapeutics in 2019 as its chief scientific officer and is credited as a co-inventor of pembrolizumab, added, “Using patient-derived antibodies as therapeutics represents an exciting approach to drug development because they are unlocking novel targets and mechanisms of action. As exemplified by our AT1412 (anti-CD9 antibody), we have identified that this patient-derived antibody induces antibody-mediated tumor kill and promotes immune cell penetration into the tumor. Our technologies were initially developed and validated for applications in infectious disease, resulting in the out licensing of a product candidate for respiratory syncytial virus to MedImmune that is now in Phase 3 development. Following years of groundbreaking experience in the field led by my predecessor and founder of the company Hergen Spits, professor at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, we are now applying our evolved and highly selective antibody technologies to treat cancer. Our unique and proprietary technology allows us to interrogate every memory B-cell in both human blood and tumors for anti-cancer reactivity. Together with our rich tradition of cutting-edge immunology, we are uniquely positioned to identify targets on both hematological and solid tumors that have not been previously identified before.”
AACR Presentations on June 22, 2020
| Poster 531 Session: Antibody Technologies | Title: AT1412, a patient-derived antibody in development for the treatment of cd9-positive precursor b-acute lymphoblastic leukemia |
| Poster 532 Session: Antibody Technologies | Title: A patient-derived anti-CD9 antibody induces tumor rejection and synergistically enhances anti-PD1 activity |
| Poster 542 Session: Antibody Technologies | Title: T-cell engager bispecific formats of an AML patient-derived antibody targeting a unique sialylated CD43 epitope induce kill of melanoma cells in vitro and in vivo |
| Poster 5163 Session: Antibody Technologies | Title: A colon cancer survivor-derived antibody recognizes a previously unidentified truncated, O-mannosylated 70kDa variant of E-cadherin |
About AIMM
AIMM Therapeutics is a privately-held biotechnology company working to isolate and develop antibodies from cured cancer survivors to create safe, effective and targeted therapies for other cancer patients. The company was founded based on proprietary and groundbreaking B-cell immortalization technologies that enable it to interrogate the full B-cell repertoire from cured cancer patients (AIMSelect) and reverse-engineer their successful immune response (AIMProve). AIMM is advancing several antibodies, which represent unique targets that would not have been predicted or viewed as druggable using traditional drug design and discovery approaches, through discovery and preclinical development. AIMM’s lead wholly-owned asset is AT1412, an antibody derived from a stage 4 melanoma patient that binds to a unique epitope on CD9.
Contacts:
Sylvia Wheeler
swheeler@wheelhouselsa.com
Alexandra Santos
asantos@wheelhouselsa.com