Author: Staff

Triumvira Immunologics to Present New Data on its TAC T Cell Autologous and Allogeneic Products and the Ongoing Phase I/II Solid Tumor Trial at the 2023 AACR Annual Meeting

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AUSTIN, Texas & SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. & HAMILTON, Ontario–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Triumvira Immunologics (“Triumvira”), a clinical-stage company developing novel, targeted autologous and allogeneic T cell therapeutics that co-opt the natural biology of T cells to treat patients with solid tumors, today announced that the Company will be presenting preclinical and clinical data on its lead asset TAC01-HER2 for the treatment of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive solid tumors at the 2023 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting taking place in Orlando, April 14-19. The presentations will include updated clinical data and product characterization from the ongoing Phase I/II trial of autologous TAC01-HER2 (NCT04727151) in patients with solid tumors and preclinical data on an allogeneic HER2-TAC T cell product.

“We are pleased to present additional validation of our lead clinical program TAC01-HER2, currently in Phase I/II trials, supporting the efficiency of our proprietary Cocoon® platform to manufacture potent autologous TAC01-HER2 cells using leukocytes from cancer patients,” said Deyaa Adib, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Triumvira Immunologics. “Interim results will also be presented from our ongoing Phase I/II trial investigating the safety and efficacy of autologous TAC01-HER2 in HER2+ refractory solid tumors demonstrating a favorable safety profile and promising clinical activity as evident by reduction of measurable disease and prevention of fast cancer progression in the majority of patients enrolled in the Phase I trial. Further, we will present new preclinical data from our allogeneic T cell-based products in development demonstrating their potential to avoid graft versus host disease.”

SVB fall casts shadow on early-stage U.S. biotech

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The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB.O) will leave early-stage biotechnology companies with a funding void, investors and analysts said on Monday, but larger, publicly-traded drug companies should escape unscathed.

About 50% of U.S. biotech companies, developing drugs for everything from cancer to heart disease and rare conditions, banked with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), including a large number of private firms, according to WBB financial analyst and managing partner Steve Brozak.

T Cell Antigen Coupler Platform Generating Patient-Derived Cell Therapies to Target Solid Tumors with Dr. Paul Lammers Triumvira Immunologics

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Dr. Paul Lammers, the Chief Executive Officer at Triumvira Immunologics, is developing personalized medicine to treat solid tumors using an autologous approach to arm the patient-derived cells with a vector that identifies and kills individual cancer cells. At the forefront of the next generation of immune-oncology, Triumvira uses the Cocoon Platform made by Lonza to automate this process in a closed system to grow and harvest the cells. The ultimate goal is to have this technology available at the point of care in regional cancer centers to allow this cell therapy to be used by more cancer patients.

Paul elaborates, “The challenge with T cell therapy has been can we also use cell therapy to treat solid tumors? And that’s where we feel that with our technology, known as TAC, T Cell Antigen Coupler comes in. We truly think we have an opportunity here, so we feel we are developing first-in-class medications based on that new T cell engineer platform, the TAC. We hope to have an opportunity to focus on different types of targets in solid tumors that will address high unmet needs in cancers like gastric cancer and colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer, and ovarian and endometrial.”

Inside Insight: Nature knows best for Triumvira’s cell therapy

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While many cell therapy developers are embracing every change they can engineer to optimize their CAR constructs, the messaging from Triumvira Immunologics is to keep it simple. By combining the best features of CAR-T and TCR therapies, it’s hoping to create a cell therapy to competitively take on both liquid and solid tumors.

Avoiding drawbacks of CARs: Triumvira aims to take TCRs to the next level with its T cell Antigen Coupler (TAC), harnessing endogenous TCR activity with CAR-like activation.

The construct co-opts the native TCR, while also enabling activation through its own engineered antigen binding and co-receptor domains. This allows the TAC to activate or silence the T-cell, without the use of gene editing.

Biotech CFOs sharpen financing tactics for lean times

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In today’s challenging market, some biotech companies are going the extra mile to keep their existing investors, reopening earlier rounds and moving to rolling closings.

CFOs of early-stage biotechnology firms get a lot of practice in the art of raising money.

No matter the market cycle, they must find capital to fund costly research that will ideally lead to new drugs or treatments that generate revenue — and turn them cash-flow positive.

Finance chiefs at pre-revenue companies must tamp down cash-burn as much as possible, get employees paid and keep labs operating while continually building a funding runway. “The minute we close one financing, you have to start thinking about the next one,” Scott Praill, CFO of San Diego, Calif.-based Kintara Therapeutics, said in an interview. “That’s always on your mind.”

Biotech CFOs sharpen financing tactics for lean times

Posted on by Staff

In today’s challenging market, some biotech companies are going the extra mile to keep their existing investors, reopening earlier rounds and moving to rolling closings.

CFOs of early-stage biotechnology firms get a lot of practice in the art of raising money.

No matter the market cycle, they must find capital to fund costly research that will ideally lead to new drugs or treatments that generate revenue — and turn them cash-flow positive.

Finance chiefs at pre-revenue companies must tamp down cash-burn as much as possible, get employees paid and keep labs operating while continually building a funding runway. “The minute we close one financing, you have to start thinking about the next one,” Scott Praill, CFO of San Diego, Calif.-based Kintara Therapeutics, said in an interview. “That’s always on your mind.”

Triumvira Immunologics Establishes Collaboration with Merck to Evaluate TAC01-HER2 Cell Therapy in Combination with KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) in Patients with HER2-positive Solid Tumors

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Clinical activity observed in third dosing cohort and sustained clinical benefit in second cohort

AUSTIN, Texas & SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. & HAMILTON, Ontario–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Triumvira Immunologics (“Triumvira”), a clinical-stage company developing novel, targeted autologous and allogeneic T cell therapeutics that co-opt the natural biology of T cells to treat patients with solid tumors, today announced a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with Merck (known as MSD outside the U.S. and Canada). Triumvira’s ongoing TACTIC-2 trial will evaluate the use of its novel autologous cell therapy TAC01-HER2 as a monotherapy but also in combination with Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) for the treatment of HER2-positive solid tumors.

“We believe the addition of an immune checkpoint inhibitor, such as KEYTRUDA, to TAC01-HER2 will effectively release inhibitory PD-L1/PD1 signaling in T cells, potentially leading to improved and durable therapeutic responses, said Paul Lammers, M.D., M.Sc., Chief Executive Officer of Triumvira. We are pleased to work collaboratively with Merck to explore the potential of this approach to treat relapsed or refractory solid tumors and bring new drug therapies to patients who do not respond to existing treatments.”

Other news to note for Jan. 5, 2023

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After the bonanza of 2021, life-sciences entrepreneurs reset their expectations as financing contracted

Biopharma happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Acelyrin, Adcendo, Algernon, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Caris, Celmatix, Duality, Esperovax, Evotec, Ginkgo, Lumen, Merck & Co., Nouscom, Orbit, Orna, Paratek, Phoremost, Sanegene, Simnova Xianbo, Triumvira, Variational Ai, Xencor, Y-Mabs.

Tales From the 2022 Biotech VC Fundraising Trail

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After the bonanza of 2021, life-sciences entrepreneurs reset their expectations as financing contracted

Biotechnology entrepreneurs recalibrated in 2022 as their financing options narrowed, a reversal from years in which life-sciences startups were flush with capital.

With just two weeks left in the year, U.S. biotechs had raked in $29.7 billion for 2022, compared with the record—$38.7 billion—deployed in all of 2021, according to market tracker PitchBook Data Inc.

Triumvira Immunologics Announces Updated Data from Ongoing TACTIC‑2 Trial of TAC01-HER2 in Patients with HER2 Positive Solid Tumors

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Clinical activity observed in third dosing cohort and sustained clinical benefit in second cohort

AUSTIN, Texas & SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. & HAMILTON, Ontario–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Triumvira Immunologics (“Triumvira”), a clinical-stage company developing novel, targeted autologous and allogeneic T cell therapeutics that co-opt the natural biology of T cells to treat patients with cancer, today announced updated positive clinical data from its ongoing TACTIC‑2 Phase 1/2 trial of TAC01-HER2 in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive solid tumors will be shared in a poster at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer’s (SITC) 37th Annual Meeting from November 8-12, 2022.

These interim data demonstrate that TAC01-HER2 is well-tolerated and clinical activity was observed in the two higher dosing cohorts with a 67% disease control rate in cohort 3 (n=3; 1-3 x 106 cells/kg), with signs of continued clinical activity observed in two patients, one with stage IV gastroesophageal junction cancer and one with stage IV breast cancer. Both patients in cohort 3 show stable disease at their first and second scans. Building on initial data from cohort 2 presented at ESMO 2022, a patient with stage IVb metastatic gastric cancer continues to derive clinical benefit after having an observed partial response. The two other patients within cohort 2, one with stage IV colorectal cancer and one with stage IV gall bladder cancer, continue to show clinical benefit with stable disease, with no change in tumor measurements compared to baseline at over 3 months.