On November 7, 2019 Palleon Pharmaceuticals, a leading biotech company developing drugs that target the Siglec-Sialoglycan axis to treat cancer, reported two poster presentations at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) (Free SITC Whitepaper)’s (SITC) (Free SITC Whitepaper) 34th Annual Meeting in National Harbor, MD (Press release, Palleon Pharmaceuticals, NOV 7, 2019, View Source [SID1234550659]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

The first poster will show recent preclinical data on the company’s EAGLE platform, a first-in-class modality that targets the Siglec-Sialoglycan axis for treating cancer. The Siglec-Sialoglycan axis is very difficult to target by conventional approaches because of the structural diversity of sialylated tumor glycans and the redundancy of the Siglec receptors. The EAGLE platform makes targeting possible by enzymatically removing the critical common immunosuppressive moiety, terminal sialic acids, from tumor glycans regardless of their individual structures or Siglec receptor preferences. New data generated confirm anti-tumor activity and identify predictive biomarkers using EAGLE with engineered human sialidase in both in vitro and in vivo studies. Human sialidase poses fewer immunogenic concerns than bacterial sialidase, which was used in previous EAGLE proof-of-concept studies.

The second poster presentation describes Palleon’s HYDRA platform, an immunohistochemistry-based translational research technology, which allows the identification of a patient’s specific tumor cell surface glycan pattern, or tumor glyco-code. By overcoming the challenge posed by the significant structural heterogeneity of tumor surface glycans, HYDRA has the potential to help select patients who are most likely to respond to treatment.

"The Siglec-Sialoglycan axis, which was a previously underappreciated mechanism of immunosuppression, has recently emerged as a major tumor immune escape pathway," said Jim Broderick, M.D., Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Palleon. "The collective data thus far across our three distinct technology platforms – EAGLE, CONVERGENCE and HYDRA – continue to support that targeting this axis could play an important role in how we develop targeted treatments for cancer and identify the patients who are most likely to respond to treatment."

Full details of the presentations are below.

Poster title: Blockade of glyco-immune checkpoint using EAGLE to potentiate anticancer immunity
Abstract ID: P273
Date & time: Friday, Nov. 8, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm ET and 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm ET
Location: Prince George’s Exhibition Halls AB

Poster title: HYDRA platform development to investigate Siglec-engaging tumor immunosuppressive glyco-codes
Abstract ID: P118
Date & time: Saturday, Nov. 9, 12:35 pm – 2:05 pm ET and 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm ET
Location: Prince George’s Exhibition Halls AB