APVO442 Prostate Cancer Data Presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting

On April 12, 2022 Aptevo Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:APVO), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing novel immuno-oncology therapeutics based on its proprietary ADAPTIR and ADAPTIR-FLEX platform technologies, reported the presentation of preclinical data for APVO442 in a poster session at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA (Press release, Aptevo Therapeutics, APR 12, 2022, View Source [SID1234612075]). APVO442 is a bispecific therapeutic candidate targeting prostate-specific maturation antigen (PSMA) and CD3 designed to redirect the patient’s T cell-mediated tumor-fighting responses against PSMA-expressing solid tumors (prostate cancer).

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The presentation, entitled "APVO442 is a distinct PSMA x CD3 targeted bispecific candidate designed to optimize T cell fitness and distribution to solid tumors," highlights the potential of APVO442 to treat prostate cancer indications such as metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer with increased benefit and decreased side effects relative to other potential therapeutics in the bispecific category. Aptevo is working to identify a clinical path for APVO442 and to potentially offer improved treatment options as a monotherapy or combination therapy for patients with difficult-to-treat prostate cancers.

"APVO442 was designed to offer unique tumor fighting and safety properties with the goal of maximizing the patients’ own immune response toward tumor killing while minimizing the toxic effects that can be associated with this bispecific therapeutic category, most notably cytokine release syndrome. This is a serious and sometimes treatment-limiting side effect in a clinical setting," said Michelle Nelson, Associate Director of Immunobiology, Aptevo Therapeutics. "We are continuing preclinical studies to support an IND-enabling package, which precedes the start of human clinical studies. The Company looks forward to presenting additional APVO442 data, our first candidate developed using our innovative APDAPTIR-FLEX platform."

About APVO442

APVO442 is a bispecific antibody candidate designed to target Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA), a tumor antigen that is highly expressed on prostate cancer cells with limited normal tissue expression, and CD3, a signaling component of the T-cell receptor complex. APVO442 contains two binding domains to PSMA to increase binding to this tumor antigen, and a single, lower affinity binding domain to CD3. The bispecific candidate is designed to induce target-specific T-cell killing of PSMA positive cancer cells while improving concentration of the drug at the tumor site. The drug candidate is built on Aptevo’s ADAPTIR-FLEX platform and leverages the unique properties of this technology to increase binding to PSMA while lowering binding to T cells in the circulation. This design has potential to increase the amount of drug concentration at the site of PSMA-positive tumors and increase anti-tumor responses by tumor-infiltrating T cells.