On April 27, 2026 Asgard Therapeutics, a privately held biotech company pioneering in vivo direct cell reprogramming for cancer immunotherapy, reported it will present advanced preclinical data on its lead asset AT-108, a first-in-class, off-the-shelf cancer immunotherapy, in an oral presentation at the ASGCT (Free ASGCT Whitepaper) Annual Meeting, held from 11-15 May, 2026, in Boston, Massachusetts, US.

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Fábio Rosa, Co-founder and VP and Head of Research at Asgard Therapeutics, who will give the oral presentation, said: "These data demonstrate the ability of AT-108 to reprogram tumor cells in situ into antigen-presenting cells with high efficiency, systematically driving activation of tumor-specific immune responses within the tumor microenvironment. This work provides clear preclinical evidence supporting our in vivo cell reprogramming platform and represents another milestone for Asgard as we advance AT-108 toward the clinic."

Shane Olwill, Chief Development Officer at Asgard Therapeutics, said: "We are delighted to have been selected for an oral presentation at ASGCT (Free ASGCT Whitepaper), which will highlight the progress we have made advancing AT-108 – our first-in-class, off-the-shelf gene-based immunotherapy designed to trigger powerful, personalized anti-cancer responses. Our pioneering approach to tackling cancer is potentially transformative and we are excited by AT-108’s broad potential across multiple cancer types."

Asgard had previously demonstrated that intratumoral delivery of AT-018 reprograms tumor cells into cDC1-like antigen-presenting cells and works synergistically with immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) to elicit powerful anti-tumor activity.

This new study, being presented at ASGCT (Free ASGCT Whitepaper) 2026, advances AT-108 across four key dimensions. It demonstrates AT-108’s ability to induce systemic anti-tumor immunity in mouse models leading to abscopal effect and regression on non-treated tumors in the same animals; it establishes AT-108 as the optimized clinical candidate following screening of >25 cassette variants; it defines dosing and treatment parameters required for durable responses; and it identifies pharmacodynamic biomarkers associated with reprogramming and immune activation.

Further highlights of the study include that:

In combination with ICB, Asgard’s approach induced abscopal effects and long-term tumor-free survival in the B16 mouse syngeneic model. These results were associated with increased T cells and NK cells, and reduced regulatory T cells, in both injected and non-injected tumors.
When used as a monotherapy, AT-108 doubled median survival in B16 and YUMM1.7 mouse models, and induced regression in ID8 ascites mouse model.
When used in combination with ICB, AT-108 achieved 50% complete response (CR) in B16, and extended survival in the PANC02 immunosuppressed mouse model.
Cell transduction peaked 1-2 days post injection and persisted for up to 9-15 days, supporting re-dosing every two days to sustain transduction. A three-dose lead cycle was required to achieve CRs, with maintenance dosing improving durability.
Regarding biomarkers, tumor and peripheral blood analyses identified pharmacodynamic signatures associated with AT-108 activity, including increased cytotoxic T cells, expansion of follicular helper T cells and enrichment of dendritic cells.

The abstract is available to view via the ASGCT (Free ASGCT Whitepaper) interactive program here.

The positive study results come as Asgard progresses AT-108 toward clinical development with a focus on solid tumors, by advancing IND-enabling studies and CMC development.

Details of the oral presentation are as follows:

Presentation title: Optimized in situ tumor-to-dendritic cell reprogramming by AT-108 adenoviral vector drives local and systemic antitumor immunity
Presenter: Fabio Rosa, Asgard Therapeutics
Presentation session: Cancer vaccines and oncolytic viruses I
Session date and time: 13 May 2026, 03:30 PM – 05:00 PM EDT
Location: MCEC Room 162AB (Level 1)
Presentation Time: 04:30 PM – 04:45 PM EDT

(Press release, Asgard Therapeutics, APR 27, 2026, View Source [SID1234664823])