HELSINKI, Finland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TILT Biotherapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing cancer immunotherapeutics, announces that it has dosed its first patients and progressed to the second dose level in a monotherapy phase 1 clinical trial of TILT-123, a dual cytokine armed oncolytic adenovirus. The trial is being performed in patients with injectable solid tumors. Patients are being treated at Docrates Cancer Center and Helsinki University Hospital (Helsinki, Finland), leading international treatment facilities specializing in diagnostics, treatment and follow-up of cancers.
The ‘TILT-T115’ clinical trial (1) is a phase 1, open-label, dose-escalation study of the company’s oncolytic adenovirus coding for Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha (TNF alpha) and Interleukin 2 (IL-2), known as TILT-123. A total of approximately 20 patients will receive TILT-123 as a monotherapy over a three-month period. The trial’s primary objective is to evaluate the safety of TILT-123. The T115 trial is also designed to deliver insights about the behavior of TILT-123 in humans, such as systemic tumor transduction following intravenous delivery and virus replication in the tumor, as well as immunological responses.
TILT Biotherapeutics’ CEO, Akseli Hemminki, a biotech entrepreneur and cancer clinician who has personally treated almost 300 patients with ten different oncolytic viruses, said, “We are pleased by the clinical progress of TILT despite the recent restrictions caused by the pandemic. With our TILT-T215 melanoma combination trial already up and running in Denmark and France, I’m delighted that our TILT-T115 solid tumor monotherapy trial is now open in Finland, with interim results expected in Q4 2021. We expect the trial to provide valuable data in multiple solid tumor indications as well as provide supportive data for the future development of TILT-123 in combination with checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T therapies.”
Docrates Cancer Center’s CEO Ilpo Tolonen, said, “Docrates is the first and only private cancer center in the Nordic countries, and we have received patients from over 60 countries worldwide. We have harnessed our state-of-the-art technology and the uncompromising competence of our cancer treatment specialists for the best benefit of our patients – accompanied by genuine caring. This collaboration with TILT Biotherapeutics is part of our mission to provide our patients with state-of-the-art individual cancer therapies, cutting-edge know-how and, whenever possible, offer new treatments that are still in the experimental stage, for the benefit of the patient.”
The heart of TILT’s approach revolves around the use of armed oncolytic adenoviruses, using cytokines to boost the patient’s immune response to better enable it to find and destroy cancer cells.
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(1) Link to the ‘TUNIMO’ clinical trial details: TNFα and IL-2 Coding Oncolytic Adenovirus TILT-123 Monotherapy - Full Text View - ClinicalTrials.gov
About TILT Biotherapeutics
TILT Biotherapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing cancer therapeutics based on its proprietary oncolytic adenoviruses armed with molecules including cytokines that can stimulate, or suppress, T cells. The company’s patented TILT® technology, which can be delivered locally and systemically, modifies the tumor microenvironment and eliminates its ability to suppress immune responses to cancer, thereby enhancing T-cell therapies such as checkpoint inhibitors and CAR T therapies.
TILT’s lead asset, TILT-123, is a 5/3 chimeric serotype adenovirus armed with two human cytokines; TNF alpha and IL-2. TILT-123 has demonstrated a 100% response rate in pre-clinical cancer models in vivo, and it is currently in Phase 1 clinical trials.
Based in Helsinki, Finland, the company was established in 2013 as a spin-out from the University of Helsinki. It has funding from Lifeline Ventures, angel investors, Business Finland, and the European Innovation Council (EIC).
About Docrates Cancer Center
Docrates Cancer Center is a private, Finnish-owned, international hospital in Helsinki specializing in individual and comprehensive cancer care. Docrates provides services for cancer patients throughout the treatment chain from diagnosis to treatments and follow-up. After the diagnosis and imaging, treatment can be planned and initiated immediately. Docrates attracts patients from all over the world; so far they have treated patients from over 60 countries. www.docrates.com/en
