New York-based Turnstone Biologics announced it is partnering with the Moffitt Cancer Center to develop tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapies.
New York-based Turnstone Biologics announced its partnership with the Moffitt Cancer Center to develop tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapies. The two organizations will work on pre-clinical development of potential clinical candidates using Turnstone’s next-generated selected TIL technologies in several solid tumor types, including an investigational new drug (IND) submission of its lead program, TIDAL-01.
In January 2021, Turnstone acquired California-based Myst Therapeutics. This added a pipeline of innovative TIL programs to Turnstone’s portfolio of oncolytic virus candidates. TIL leverages populations of T cells isolated from a patient’s tumor. They are then expanded and stimulated in the laboratory, then re-infused into the patient, targeting the cancer cells better. Myst’s TIL platform is specifically designed to enrich the most relevant T cells that target tumors.
They will now turn that technology platform to working with Moffitt.
“Moffitt has established itself as a leader in the development of cutting-edge cell-based therapies,” said Sammy Farah, president and chief executive officer of Turnstone. “With Moffitt’s world-leading researchers and unique capabilities to support translational research, we believe this collaboration will be crucial in bringing our transformative TIL therapies to people with cancer. We look forward to working closely with the team at Moffitt as we advance our innovative strategy in this field.”
Under the terms of the new deal, the two organizations will work to develop Turnstone’s pipeline of specific TILs for several solid tumor types, including melanoma, breast, and colorectal cancer. Turnstile will also transfer its TIL manufacturing process to Moffitt to create cell products for clinical studies of Turnstone’s TIL product candidates. Turnstone will support research and development activities at Moffitt over several years.
Turnstone currently has an ongoing Phase I/IIa RAPTOR trial for RIVAL-01, its lead oncolytic viral candidate in solid tumors. RIVAL-01 is made up of the company’s oncolytic vaccinia virus backbone that encodes transgenes for Flt3 ligand, anti-CTLA-4 antibody, and IL-12 cytokine. It is partnered with Takeda Pharmaceutical on this product. In addition to evaluating RIVAL-01 as a monotherapy, it is being tested in combination with Merck’s checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda (pembrolizumab). It is being tested in triple-negative breast cancer, microsatellite stable colorectal cancer, melanoma, and cholangiocarcinoma.
TIDAL-01 is a TIL therapy candidate. The company says the compound “builds on the success of clinically validated treatment protocols while enriching for the most relevant T-cells for tumor eradication, preserving broad antigen diversity and minimizing time to treatment for patients, with the ultimate goal of extending the benefit of TIL therapy across a wider range of solid tumor types.”
They expect to take TIDAL-01 into the clinic in early 2022.
“Turnstone’s strong commitment to support its novel TIL platform and pipeline aligns on Moffitt’s expertise and singular focus on developing truly life-altering cancer treatments,” said Shari Pilon-Thomas, Ph.D., associate member of the Immunology Department at Moffitt. “We are excited to collaborate with Turnstone to help propel the development of TIDAL-01 as well as progress investigation of multiple next-generation TIL immunotherapies with the potential to improve clinical outcomes for cancer patients.”
No financial details were released.
