Novel CLDN18.2-TAC T cell candidate effectively eradicated Claudin 18.2-expressing gastric tumor cells in vitro and in vivo

AUSTIN, Texas, and HAMILTON, Ontario, November 13, 2021 – Triumvira Immunologics (“Triumvira”), a clinical-stage company developing novel, targeted autologous and allogeneic T cell therapeutics that do not require gene editing and co-opt the natural biology of T cells to treat patients with solid tumors, today announced the presentation of preclinical data from its proof-of-concept study in gastric cancer. These new data demonstrate that Triumvira’s novel T cell antigen coupler (TAC)-T cell candidate targeting Claudin 18.2 (CLDN18.2) effectively eradicates CLDN18.2-expressing gastric tumor cells in vitro and in vivo. The results will be presented in a poster presentation today at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 36th Annual Meeting, taking place November 10-14, 2021, virtually and in-person at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

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AUSTIN, Texas & 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 it has appointed Deyaa Adib, M.D., to serve as the company’s Chief Medical Officer, effective immediately. Dr. Adib will report to President and CEO Dr. Paul Lammers and will succeed Dr. Sabine Chlosta.

As a seasoned industry leader, Dr. Adib has over 24 years of medical oncology experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, including seven successful registrations across solid tumor and hematologic malignancy indications. He previously served as acting chief medical officer at Rain Therapeutics, where he built the oncology portfolio leading to a successful IPO, and vice president of late-stage development at Blueprint Medicines advancing the development of avapritinib approved for gastrointestinal stromal tumor and advanced systemic mastocytosis. Dr. Adib also served as global therapeutics head for solid tumors at Baxalta, advancing the development of imalumab in colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and ovarian cancer, and licensing nanoliposomal irinotecan that was subsequently approved for pancreatic cancer. In this role, he also led the efforts to secure licensing and development of a CD-19 target with Precision Biosciences in B cell malignancies and PD1, LAG3, TIM3 solid tumor targets with Symphogen, a Servier company. He also served as head of hematologic malignancies at ARIAD Pharmaceuticals (now part of Takeda) leading the global clinical program for ponatinib dose-finding and line extension in chronic myeloid leukemia.

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TACTIC-2 marks first in-human use of TAC-T cell therapy Phase 1/2 clinical trial will evaluate TAC01-HER2, Triumvira’s lead candidate, in patients with HER2-overexpressing solid tumors First patient dosed at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas AUSTIN, Texas & HAMILTON, Ontario–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Triumvira Immunologics (“Triumvira”) today announced that the first patient has been dosed as part of the TACTIC-2 trial evaluating the company’s lead candidate, TAC01-HER2, an autologous T cell therapy for the treatment of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive solid tumors. Triumvira, a clinical-stage company, is developing novel, targeted autologous, and allogeneic T cell therapeutics that co-opt the natural biology of T cells to treat patients with solid and liquid tumors. The company’s proprietary T cell Antigen Coupler (TAC) platform technology activates natural T cell functions differently from other cell therapies such as Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cell (CAR-T) and engineered T cell receptor therapies.

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AUSTIN, Texas & HAMILTON, Ontario–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Triumvira Immunologics (“Triumvira” or the “Company”), a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing a novel platform for engineering T cells to attack cancers, today announced the appointment of Teresa McRoberts as Chief Financial Officer. The Company also announced the promotion of Andreas Bader, Ph.D. to Chief Scientific Officer and Jon Irvin to Senior Vice President of Finance. “We are pleased to welcome Teresa to our management team as we continue to advance our platform of novel T cell therapies toward the clinic. Teresa brings strong expertise in financial strategy and capital markets across the healthcare sector which will be invaluable as we enter our next phase of growth,” said Paul Lammers, M.D., M.Sc., President and CEO of Triumvira. “Both Andy and Jon have been integral to the rapid growth of Triumvira and we are also excited to announce their promotions today. Andy has played an instrumental role in shaping our scientific strategy with a track record of taking research programs from the discovery stage into the clinic, and Jon has played a critical role in guiding our financial strategy to date as we’ve quickly scaled up our company.”

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BioSpace is proud to present its NextGen Bio “Class of 2021,” a list of up-and-coming life sciences companies in North America that recently launched. To come up with this list, BioSpace looked at companies that recently launched over the past few years with Series A funding. They were then weighted by several different categories and ranked in a cumulative fashion, based on the points awarded for each category. These categories were: finance, collaborations, pipeline, growth potential, and innovation. The NextGen Bio Class of 2021 is a stellar group of companies that are already making an enormous impact on the industry now and will continue into the future. Congratulations to this group!

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LEVERKUSEN, Germany & AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Triumvira Immunologics Inc. (“Triumvira”), a privately-held biopharmaceutical company developing a novel platform for engineering T-cells to attack cancers, successfully completed a USD $55 million Series A financing round. The financing was co-led by Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment unit of Bayer AG, and Northpond Ventures. Additional investors include Oceanpine Capital and Viva Biotech Holdings, and existing investors include Bloom Burton & Co. and the Centre for Commercialization of Cancer Immunotherapy (C3i). T-cells are a type of white blood cell that is critical in ridding the body from abnormal and cancerous cells in healthy individuals. In cancer patients, these T-cells frequently fail to either recognize or effectively engage cancer cells. Novel T-cell therapies have the potential to disrupt cancer care and potentially even provide cures. Triumvira is committed to developing novel T-cell therapies that are safer and more efficacious than current cell therapy cancer treatments, including chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and engineered T-cell receptor (TCR) therapies. This financing will enable Triumvira to advance multiple autologous and allogeneic programs into the clinic for solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. Curing and preventing cancer is one of the main focus areas of Leaps by Bayer, as this disease still represents one of today’s most pressing health concerns, especially since there are limited curative or preventative therapies available.

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AUSTIN, Texas & HAMILTON, Ontario–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Triumvira Immunologics (Triumvira), a privately-held biopharmaceutical company developing a novel platform for engineering T-cells to attack cancers, today announced the issuance of key claims in U.S. Patent No. 10640562 entitled “T cell-antigen coupler with various construct optimizations.” The newly allowed TAC-CD19 composition-of-matter claims build on other composition-of-matter claims previously granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office and expand the protection of the company’s TAC platform and therapeutic product candidates. “Expanding intellectual property protection of our TAC platform is key to developing a solid technology platform, and this issuance confirms that the TAC is a well-differentiated technology,” said Dr. Paul Lammers, Triumvira’s President and CEO. “Issuance of our composition-of-matter claims further strengthens our position as a company pioneering novel engineered T cell approaches as we are bringing this innovative treatment to patients.”

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AUSTIN, Texas & HAMILTON, Ontario & BASEL, Switzerland–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Triumvira Immunologics Inc. (Triumvira), a private, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a novel platform for engineering T-cells to attack cancers, and Lonza, a leading cell & gene therapy manufacturer, announced today that the companies have an agreement in place.

This collaboration, aimed at the development of Triumvira’s TAC01-HER2 T-cell therapy for treating solid tumors, will leverage Lonza’s expertise in process development and the usage of its proprietary Cocoon® Platform. This automated patient-scale cell therapy manufacturing platform offers flexibility to execute a wide variety of protocols within a single system that is enabled through a single-use, highly customizable cassette, and custom programming.

Immunotherapy, particularly T-cell products, belong to the most potent drugs that could overcome the complex barriers encountered in solid tumors. However, current T-cell approaches remain insufficiently effective. The TAC receptor represents a significant advancement, providing a novel mechanism of T-cell activation, leading to improved anti-tumor responses in solid tumor models.

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AUSTIN, Texas & HAMILTON, Ontario–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Triumvira Immunologics Inc. (Triumvira), a private, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a novel platform for engineering T-cells to attack cancers, today announced that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation for its novel T-cell therapy product TAC01-CD19 in patients with relapsed or refractory Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) after at least 2 prior systemic therapies. A Phase 1/2 study (TACTIC-19) conducted in patients with CD19-positive B-cell malignancies, including DLBCL, is expected to be initiated by the end of 2019.

“FDA’s decision to grant Fast Track designation to TAC01-CD19 is an important recognition of both Triumvira’s differentiated cell therapy technology and the critical need to develop new therapies to address the unmet medical need in the treatment of B-cell lymphomas,” commented Paul Lammers, MD, MSc., President and CEO of Triumvira. “With our innovative TAC technology, we hope to significantly improve upon the limitations of existing cell therapies, including the risk of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and neurotoxicity, which would allow us to expand the number of patients eligible to receive this type of treatment.”

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