On April 19, 2018 The biopharmaceutical company MOLOGEN AG reported that it presented data of its EnanDIM molecules, a new generation of potent non chemically-modified TLR9 agonists, at the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting 2018 (American Association for Cancer Research) in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. (14 – 18 April 2018) (Press release, Mologen, APR 19, 2018, View Source [SID1234525553]). In murine tumor models, monotherapy with EnanDIM resulted in beneficial modulation of the tumor microenvironment (TME) translating into remarkable anti-tumor effects with highly increased survival rates. In two cancer models complete tumor regression in the majority of mice was observed. Importantly, in a subsequent re-challenge study all surviving mice rejected tumor cells, which indicates a sustained anti-tumor memory of the immune system. Hence, the data provide an excellent basis for further development of EnanDIM in cancer.
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"The presented data clearly reveal the enormous potential of the EnanDIM product family. Hence, besides our late-stage candidate lefitolimod, we have strong follow-up molecules and we aim to enter EnanDIM into the clinical phase as soon as possible, of course depending on available resources", said Dr Mariola Soehngen, Chief Executive Officer of MOLOGEN.
"We are excited about the beneficial TME-modulating effects of single-agent EnanDIM which translated into remarkable anti-tumor activity, a clear pre-clinical proof of concept", said Dr Matthias Baumann, Chief Medical Officer at MOLOGEN, "and keep in mind that we have already promising pre-clinical results with EnanDIM and checkpoint inhibitors which have been presented last year. In summary, this is a clear "Go" for further development of EnanDIM in the IO space."
EnanDIM (Enantiomeric, DNA-based, ImmunoModulator), as a new generation of immunomodulators and so called Immune Surveillance Reactivators (ISR), belongs to the class of TLR9 agonists and represents one of MOLOGEN’s follow-up compounds to lefitolimod exhibiting an variable immunomodulatory pattern dependent on the specific EnanDIM molecule, a one-step production process.
The EnanDIM molecules consist entirely of natural DNA, as is also the case with lefitolimod. The main difference between MOLOGEN’s two ISR families is their molecule structure. Whereas lefitolimod is dumbbell-shaped and covalently-closed, EnanDIM molecules have a linear structure. However, as with lefitolimod, due to its specific structure, no chemical modification is needed in order to protect the molecules against degradation by enzymes.
Latest data on the EnanDIM molecules have been presented not only at the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) in Chicago, but also at the ITOC-5 Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) (Free SITC Whitepaper) Conference in Berlin (19 – 21 March 2018).