Elicio Therapeutics and National Cancer Institute Collaborate to Study ELI-002 Mutant KRAS Targeting Mechanism

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Elicio Therapeutics, a next generation immuno-oncology company, today announced that it has established a collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to characterize T cell responses to ELI-002 in animals. The collaboration will be led by Dr. James Yang, Senior Investigator, Surgery Branch, Center for Cancer Research, NCI.

Elicio has demonstrated in multiple tumor models that improving the targeting of immunogens and cell-therapy activators to lymph nodes, where resident immune cells potently orchestrate immunity, can substantially amplify their ability to induce effective tumor-killing immune responses. ELI-002 is an “AMP KRAS-vaccine” containing seven Amphiphile mKRAS peptides and a proprietary Amphiphile adjuvant, administered subcutaneously.

KRAS mutations are present in 90% of pancreatic cancers, 40% of colorectal cancers, 30% of non-small cell lung, 30% of bile duct, 14% of endometrial, and 14% of ovarian cancers. ELI-002 has completed preclinical validation, IND-enabling GLP toxicology studies, and a pre-IND meeting with the FDA. P1/2 trials will be multi-site, starting with an open label dose escalation, progression to expansion cohorts in KRAS mutated solid tumors, and seamlessly progressing into a randomized, controlled cohort.

“This research investigates the mechanism of action of ELI-002 in mice that have key human HLA genes important for immune response,” said Christopher Haqq, M.D., Ph.D., Elicio’s Executive Vice President, Head of Research and Development, and Chief Medical Officer. “Dr. Yang is a pioneer of T cell therapy for solid tumors, and we are excited to collaborate in the study, which may help monitor patient responses in the planned clinical study of ELI-002, and would set the stage for clinical trials combining ELI-002 with KRAS targeting T cells.”

The Elicio Amphiphile platform enables precise targeting and delivery of immunogens and cell-therapy activators directly to the lymphatic system, the “brain center” of the immune response, to significantly amplify and enhance the body’s own system of defenses, defeat solid and hematologic cancers, and prevent their recurrence. Elicio’s ELI-002 targets seven position 12 and 13 KRAS mutations, present in approximately 25% of all human solid tumors. ELI-002 has the potential to become a multi-targeted mKRAS therapy with the ability to treat and prevent disease recurrence for hundreds of thousands of patients with mKRAS-driven cancers, including pancreatic, colorectal, lung, bile duct, endometrial, and ovarian.

About the Amphiphile Platform

The Elicio Amphiphile platform enables precise targeting and delivery of immunogens and cell-therapy activators directly to the lymphatic system, the “brain center” of the immune response, to significantly amplify and enhance the body’s own system of defenses, defeat solid and hematologic cancers, and prevent their recurrence. Once in the lymph nodes, Amphiphile immunotherapies are taken up by antigen presenting cells (APC’s) to orchestrate signaling to natural or engineered immune cells in order to maximize therapeutic immune responses to disease. This strategy has been used to improve the activity of immunostimulatory agents, antigens, adjuvants, and cell-therapies that generate little to no response when used in the conventional forms. By precisely targeting these immunotherapies to the lymph nodes, Amphiphiles can unlock their full potential to generate and amplify anti-tumor immune responses. This substantially enhanced anti-tumor functionality and long-term protective memory may someday unlock the full potential of the immune response to eliminate cancer.

About Elicio Therapeutics

Elicio Therapeutics, based in Cambridge, Mass., is committed to transforming the lives of patients and their families by re-engineering the body’s immune response to defeat cancer. By combining expertise in materials science, immunology, and immuno-oncology, Elicio is engineering potent Amphiphile immunotherapies, including lymph node targeted cell therapy activators, immunomodulators, adjuvants and vaccines for an array of aggressive cancers. Elicio’s lead Amphiphile vaccine targeting KRAS-driven cancers will begin initial patient studies in pancreatic cancer and CRC patients in 2020. These programs are followed by a broad preclinical pipeline of lymph node-targeted immunotherapies. For more information, please visit https://elicio.com.

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