Transgene and BioInvent to present preclinical data on BT-001 oncolytic virus at SITC 2021

Transgene and BioInvent to present preclinical data on BT-001 oncolytic virus at SITC 2021

Strasbourg, France, and Lund, Sweden, October 1, 2021, 3:00 pm CEST – Transgene (Euronext Paris: TNG), a biotech company that designs and develops virus-based immunotherapeutics against cancer, and BioInvent International AB (“BioInvent”) (Nasdaq Stockholm: BINV), a biotech company focused on the discovery and development of novel and first-in-class immune-modulatory antibodies for cancer immunotherapy, today announce that they will present additional preclinical data on their novel dual mechanism-of-action oncolytic vaccinia virus BT-001 at the 36th Annual Meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC2021) in November 2021.

SITC2021 will take place on November 10–14, 2021, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. and virtually. The poster will be presented on November 13, with the title “Vectorized Treg-depleting aCTLA-4 elicits antigen cross-presentation and CD8+ T cell immunity to reject “cold” tumors”. Authors: Monika Semmrich, Jean-Baptiste Marchand, Matilda Rehn, Laetitia Fend, Christelle Remy, Petra Holmkvist, Nathalie Silvestre, Carolin Svensson, Patricia Kleinpeter, Jules Deforges, Fred Junghus, Linda Mårtensson, Johann Foloppe, Ingrid Teige, Eric Quéméneur and Björn Frendéus.

BT-001 is an oncolytic virus generated using Transgene’s Invir.IO™ platform and its patented large-capacity VV_copTK^-RR^- oncolytic virus, which has been engineered to encode both a Treg-depleting human recombinant anti-CTLA-4 antibody generated by BioInvent’s proprietary n-CoDeR®/F.I.R.S.T™ platforms, and the human GM-CSF cytokine. By selectively targeting the tumor microenvironment, BT-001 is expected to elicit a much stronger and more effective antitumoral response. As a consequence, by reducing systemic exposure, the safety and tolerability profile of the anti-CTLA-4 antibody is expected to be greatly improved.

BT-001 is being co-developed as part of a 50/50 collaboration between BioInvent and Transgene.

Recruitment in the ongoing Phase I/IIa clinical study of BT-001 (NCT04725331) in Europe and the U.S. is progressing well. The trial evaluates BT-001 as a single agent and in combination with pembrolizumab for the treatment of solid tumors.

Initial Phase I data are expected in the first half of 2022.

About Transgene

Transgene (Euronext: TNG) is a biotechnology company focused on designing and developing targeted immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. Transgene’s programs utilize viral vector technology with the goal of indirectly or directly killing cancer cells.

The Company’s clinical-stage programs consist of two therapeutic vaccines (TG4001 for the treatment of HPV-positive cancers, and TG4050, the first individualized therapeutic vaccine based on the myvac® platform) as well as two oncolytic viruses (TG6002 for the treatment of solid tumors, and BT-001, the first oncolytic virus based on the Invir.IO™ platform).

With Transgene’s myvac® platform, therapeutic vaccination enters the field of precision medicine with a novel immunotherapy that is fully tailored to each individual. The myvac® approach allows the generation of a virus-based immunotherapy that encodes patient-specific mutations identified and selected by Artificial Intelligence capabilities provided by its partner NEC.

With its proprietary platform Invir.IO™, Transgene is building on its viral vector engineering expertise to design a new generation of multifunctional oncolytic viruses. Transgene has an ongoing Invir.IO™ collaboration with AstraZeneca. 

Additional information about Transgene is available at: www.transgene.fr.

Follow us on Twitter: @TransgeneSA

About BioInvent

BioInvent International AB (Nasdaq Stockholm: BINV) is a clinical-stage biotech company that discovers and develops novel and first-in-class immuno-modulatory antibodies for cancer therapy, with currently three drug candidates in four ongoing clinical programs in Phase l/ll trials for the treatment of hematological cancer and solid tumors, respectively. The Company’s validated, proprietary F.I.R.S.T™ technology platform simultaneously identifies both targets and the antibodies that bind to them, generating many promising new drug candidates to fuel the Company’s own clinical development pipeline or for additional licensing and partnering.

The Company generates revenues from research collaborations and license agreements with multiple top-tier pharmaceutical companies, as well as from producing antibodies for third parties in the Company’s fully integrated manufacturing unit. More information is available at www.bioinvent.com.

Follow us on Twitter: @BioInvent