On April 28, 2025 Agenus Inc. (Nasdaq: AGEN), a leader in immuno-oncology, reported that data from the investigator sponsored NEOASIS study were presented in an oral session at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois (Press release, Agenus, APR 28, 2025, View Source [SID1234652256]). This represents the third clinical study evaluating botensilimab and balstilimab (BOT/BAL) in the neoadjuvant setting, with outcomes reported in mismatch repair–proficient (pMMR/MSS) and mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR/MSI-H) solid tumors. These findings include the first reported outcomes with BOT/BAL outside colorectal cancer in the neoadjuvant setting.

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"These initial results from the NEOASIS study indicate that botensilimab and balstilimab can induce pathological responses in patients with a variety of solid tumors, including triple-negative breast cancer, after just two doses," said Myriam Chalabi, MD, of the Netherlands Cancer Institute. "The observed response rates—achieved without dose-limiting toxicities or surgical delays—are notable."

NEOASIS Phase 2 Neoadjuvant BOT/BAL in Early-Stage Solid Tumors (NCT06279130)

Study Design:

The safety run-in enrolled patients with non-metastatic solid tumors, divided into two cohorts of 10 patients each: dMMR/MSI-H and pMMR/MSS. Patients received a single dose of BOT (25 mg or 50 mg) combined with BAL (450 mg) on Day 1 and again on Day 22.

Results:

dMMR/MSI-H Cohort (9 colorectal, 1 duodenal cancer):
Pathological response rate: 90%
Major pathological response (MPR): 80%
Pathological complete response (pCR): 70%
pMMR/MSS Cohort (6 triple-negative breast cancer, 2 ER+ breast cancer, 1 merkel cell carcinoma, 1 sarcoma):
Pathological response rate: 80%
Major pathological response (MPR): 70%
Pathological complete response (pCR): 20%
Triple-negative breast cancer subgroup (n=6): 63% achieved MPR
No dose-limiting toxicities were observed at either dose level, and all patients proceeded to surgery on schedule. Enrollment in the efficacy phase of the study continues.

"The NEOASIS study data reinforces earlier evidence of profound clinical activity with the BOT/BAL combination in the neoadjuvant treatment of solid tumors, including those traditionally resistant to immunotherapy," said Steven O’Day, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Agenus. "These findings substantiate the importance of this immunotherapy in early treatment settings and highlight the broad potential utility of this combination."

Presentation Details:

Title: Neoadjuvant botensilimab plus balstilimab in MMR proficient and deficient early-stage cancers: First results of the pan-cancer NEOASIS study (NCT06279130)
Presenter:Myriam Chalabi, MD, Netherlands Cancer Institute
Session:Aiming for Cure: Adjuvant and Neoadjuvant Approaches
Date and Time:April 28, 2025; 2:30 PM – 4:30 PM CT
Abstract Number:CT130
Visit View Source for more information.

About Botensilimab (BOT)

Botensilimab is a human Fc enhanced CTLA-4 blocking antibody designed to boost both innate and adaptive anti-tumor immune responses. Its novel design leverages mechanisms of action to extend immunotherapy benefits to "cold" tumors which generally respond poorly to standard of care or are refractory to conventional PD-1/CTLA-4 therapies and investigational therapies. Botensilimab augments immune responses across a wide range of tumor types by priming and activating T cells, downregulating intratumoral regulatory T cells, activating myeloid cells and inducing long-term memory responses.

Botensilimab alone, or in combination with Agenus’ investigational PD-1 antibody, balstilimab, has shown clinical responses across nine metastatic, late-line cancers. Approximately 1,100 patients have been treated across the botensilimab/balstilimab program in phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials. For more information about botensilimab trials, visit www.clinicaltrials.gov.

About Balstilimab (BAL)

Balstilimab is a novel, fully human monoclonal immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4) designed to block PD-1 (programmed cell death protein 1) from interacting with its ligands PD-L1 and PD-L2. It has been evaluated in >900 patients to date and has demonstrated clinical activity and a favorable tolerability profile in several tumor types.

On April 28, 2025 Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE AMERICAN: ATNM) (Actinium or the Company), a pioneer in the development of targeted radiotherapies, reported data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting supporting Actimab-A’s mutation agnostic antileukemic effect and backbone therapy potential in preclinical acute myeloid leukemia (AML) models (Press release, Actinium Pharmaceuticals, APR 28, 2025, View Source;302439223.html [SID1234652271]). The preclinical data demonstrate that the combination of Actimab-A with standard of care AML therapies including menin and FLT3 inhibitors and the hypomethylating agent (HMA) azacitidine resulted in significant antileukemic activity in AML cells lines with FLT3, NPM1, KMT2A and TP53 mutations. Additionally, in animal models, Actimab-A significantly enhanced tumor growth inhibition, prolonged the duration of response and survival when combined with the menin inhibitor revumenib (Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), and potentiated AML cell killing in combination with the FLT3 inhibitor gilteritinib (Astellas Pharma US, Inc.) and HMA azacitidine.

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Sandesh Seth, Actinium’s Chairman and CEO, said, "In multiple clinical trials, Actimab-A has demonstrated potent single agent activity, synergy with other therapeutic modalities and efficacy in patients with high-risk features such as a TP53 mutation. To our knowledge, Actimab-A is the only AML therapy to achieve all of these outcomes, which we attribute to its mutation agnostic, backbone therapy profile. The data presented at AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) further support Actimab-A’s mutation agnostic mechanism of action across several of the most commonly expressed mutations and synergy with the targeted therapies approved for patients with these mutations. With multiple clinical trials underway and being planned across the AML treatment settings, we are focused on generating strong clinical outcomes starting in the second half of this year and committed to realizing Actimab-A’s potential for patients who have significant unmet needs."

Actimab-A is Actinium’s lead radiotherapy that delivers Actinium-225, a potent alpha-emitter radioisotope payload that can produce lethal double strand DNA breaks to kill targeted cells that express CD33. CD33 is expressed ubiquitously in AML and in other myeloid malignancies such as myeloid dysplastic syndromes (MDS), which Actinium estimates to be an addressable market of over 100,000 patients in the U.S. and EU5. Actimab-A is also being advanced into a pivotal Phase 2/3 trial in combination with the chemotherapy regimen CLAG-M in patients with relapsed or refractory AML and in newly diagnosed AML in combination with Venetoclax and ASTX-727 (Taiho Oncology, an Otsuka holdings company) an oral hypomethylating agent (HMA) under a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Actimab-A has demonstrated a mutation agnostic profile with positive clinical results in high-risk relapsed and refractory (r/r) AML patients including those with a TP53 gene mutation, prior Venetoclax treatment and prior bone marrow transplant (BMT).

The Actimab-A AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) presentation is available for viewing on the Presentations& Webinars page of Actinium’s website HERE.

Title: Actimab-A (Lintuzumab-Ac-225) has potent mutation agnostic antileukemic activity in preclinical models of AML
Abstract Number: 594

On April 28, 2025 Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ: PBYI), a biopharmaceutical company, reported that clinical data on neratinib were presented in a poster session at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting 2025 (Press release, Puma Biotechnology, APR 28, 2025, View Source [SID1234652287]). The AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting is currently taking place at the McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. The poster is entitled, "CT071: Phase I trial of trastuzumab deruxtecan in combination with neratinib in solid tumors with HER2 alterations (NCI 10495)." Andrew A. Davis, Assistant Professor at Washington University School of Medicine, presented the poster during Session PO.CT01.01 – First-in-Human Phase I Clinical Trials 1.

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NCI 10495 is sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, part of National Institutes of Health, and conducted in the NCI funded Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network (ETCTN). This open label, multi-center, Phase I clinical trial (NCT05372614) enrolled 20 patients in three cohorts treated with three increasing dose levels, or a 3+3 trial design, to evaluate the safety and tolerability of trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd or ENHERTU) in combination with neratinib (NERLYNX). Eligible patients had advanced solid tumors with HER2 immunohistochemistry 3+ (IHC3+), HER2 amplification identified by in situ hybridization or next-generation sequencing, or an activating HER2 mutation. Prior treatment with trastuzumab deruxtecan was not allowed. The dose of trastuzumab deruxtecan was fixed at 5.4 mg/kg. The three dose levels (DLs) for neratinib all started at 120 mg daily for the first week. DL1 remained at 120 mg daily throughout the course of treatment, DL2 escalated to 160 mg daily in week 2 and 200 mg by week 3, and DL3 escalated to 160 mg in week 2 and 240 mg by week 3. The primary endpoints were the determination of the dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs) during the first two cycles of treatment (42 days) and the determination of the recommended Phase II dose of the combination of trastuzumab deruxtecan and neratinib.

Twenty patients received study treatment (DL1 N=7, DL2 N=4, and DL3 N=9). The most common treatment-emergent adverse events of any grade included nausea (N=15, 75%), diarrhea (N=15, 75%), fatigue (N=13, 65%), and hypokalemia (N=11, 55%). Grade 3 treatment-emergent adverse events that occurred in more than 2 patients included anemia (N=6, 30%), diarrhea (N=4, 20%), and hypokalemia (N=3, 15%). The only Grade 4 treatment-related adverse event was neutropenia that occurred in 1 patient (5%). One DLT (acute kidney injury) was observed at DL1, 0 DLTs were observed in DL2, and 1 DLT was observed (fatigue leading to early drug discontinuation) at DL3. Three patients developed Grade 1 pneumonitis or interstitial lung disease (ILD), 2 at DL1 and 1 at DL3. The proportion of reported treatment-emergent adverse events was lower at higher dose levels.

Of 15 response-evaluable patients by RECIST v1.1, 4 patients had a partial response (PR), including patients with gastroesophageal (N=2, one HER2 IHC 3+ and one HER2 mutated), pancreatic (N=1, IHC 3+), and ovarian (N=1, IHC 3+; unconfirmed response) cancers. Notably, 3 of 5 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer were observed to have tumor regression (1 PR for 13+ cycles, 2 with stable disease consisting of one patient with -29.4% tumor regression for 9 cycles and one patient with -13.3% tumor regression for 8 cycles).

Dose level 3, which consisted of trastuzumab deruxtecan at 5.4 mg/kg and neratinib at 120 mg in week 1, 160 mg week 2, and 240 mg week 3 onward, was selected as the recommended Phase II dose. Part 2 of this study, which consists of a pharmacodynamic evaluation of trastuzumab deruxtecan (5.4 mg/kg) and neratinib (RPD2) in 12 patients, opened to enrollment in March 2025. Patients with any advanced solid tumor and HER2 amplification/overexpression or a HER2 mutation will be enrolled.

"Neratinib and trastuzumab deruxtecan showed impressive combination activity in preclinical models of HER2-mutated breast cancers, which prompted evaluation of the combination in this first-in-human clinical trial. I am pleased to report that the combination not only had a manageable safety profile, but we also observed early signs of efficacy across a variety of HER2-altered tumors," said Dr. Davis.

Alan H. Auerbach, Chief Executive Officer and President of Puma Biotechnology, added, "We are pleased with the tolerability and potentially promising signals of efficacy of neratinib in combination with trastuzumab deruxtecan, especially in hard-to-treat tumors including pancreatic cancer. We look forward to continued evaluation of this combination in the Phase II portion of this study."

NCI 10495 is also supported by Puma Biotechnology and Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. through Cooperative Research and Development Agreements with NCI.

Trastuzumab deruxtecan is a specifically engineered HER2 directed DXd antibody drug conjugate (ADC) discovered by Daiichi Sankyo (TSE: 4568) and being jointly developed and commercialized by Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca (LSE/STO/Nasdaq: AZN).

On April 28, 2025 Cellectis (the "Company") (Euronext Growth: ALCLS – NASDAQ: CLLS), a clinical-stage biotechnology company using its pioneering gene-editing platform to develop life-saving cell and gene therapies, reported research data on TALEN-mediated non-viral transgene insertion for advancing cellular and gene therapies, and advancements in genetic editing using base editors (TALEB), at the Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) (Free ASGCT Whitepaper) annual meeting, that will be held on May 13-17, 2025 in New Orleans (Press release, Cellectis, APR 28, 2025, View Source [SID1234652224]).

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The data are presented in two posters:

Title: TALEN- Mediated non-viral Transgene Insertion for the Advancement of Cellular and Gene Therapies.

Cell and gene therapy approaches can use gene-editing tools and introduce transgenes to modify disease-associated genes, thus providing a potential therapeutic solution for a wide array of diseases.

In this work, Cellectis combines TALEN-mediated gene editing with non-viral delivery of transgene for advancing cellular and gene therapies, and explores gene insertion-efficacy and cellular health using single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) for payload delivery in different cell types.

This innovative approach has the potential to address the challenges associated with traditional lentiviral viral methods or AAV-mediated transgene insertion such as manufacturing constraints, potential genomic toxicities or limited payload size.

Research data show:

Non-viral methods for gene editing: TALEN mediated gene editing combined with non-viral templates (linear and circular ssDNA) can be used for highly efficient gene insertion in T-cells as well as hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) promoting viability and insertion specificity
Advantages of Circular ssDNA over viral vectors: Transcriptomic analysis and in vivo data demonstrate that CssDNA-mediated cell engineering allows better maintenance of HSPC fitness as well as more stable gene editing, compared to traditional viral donor template-mediated transgene delivery.
« The implementation of these gene-editing techniques holds significant potential for the development of next-generation therapies, aiming to provide alternative efficient, and safe therapeutic options for patients with cancer, autoimmune diseases, monogenic disorders, and various other conditions. » said Beatriz Aranda Orgilles, Ph.D., Associate Director – IO and business development analyst at Cellectis.

Title: High fidelity C-to-T editing with base editors

TALE base editors (TALEB) are fusions of a transcription activator-like effector domain (TALE), split-DddA deaminase halves, and a uracil glycosylase inhibitor (UGI). The C-to-T class of TALEB edits double-stranded DNA by converting a cytosine (C) to a thymine (T) and does not involve DNA strand nick.

Cellectis has developed a method to characterize the efficiency of this conversion and examined various factors influencing TALEB activity. This method also takes advantage of a highly precise and efficient knock-in of ssODN in primary T cells to develop an assay to assess how the composition and spacer variations of target sequences affect TALEB activity/efficiency.

Research data show:

Efficiency of C-to-T editing: TALEB enables efficient conversion of C to T. Variations in target sequences and surrounding bases affecting editing efficiency. An educated choice of the TALEB architecture further allows to control the editing outcome.
Assessment of off-target editing risks: Studies have been conducted to evaluate off-target editing, showing no detectable editing in primary cells at previously described sites, highlighting the specificity of TALEB for potential therapeutic applications.
«It is inspiring to see the advancement of Cellectis’ TALE technology into a new tool that is available in our gene editing toolbox. Our ability to understand and fine-tune the editing capacity of TALE base editors has equipped us with another efficient and specific approach that can be used to support novel gene editing and gene therapy applications. » said Louisa Mayer, Ph.D., Scientist II and Supervisor – Innovation & Gene Editing at Cellectis.

Overall, the results of this study enhance the control and use of TALEB, allowing for the design of highly efficient and specific TALEB compatible with future therapeutic applications.

The abstracts are live on the ASGCT (Free ASGCT Whitepaper) website. The posters will be available on Cellectis’ website the first day of the event.

On April 28, 2025 ORIC Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ORIC), a clinical stage oncology company focused on developing treatments that address mechanisms of therapeutic resistance, reported the presentation of a poster at the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting, highlighting preclinical data on ORIC-944, a potent, highly selective, orally bioavailable allosteric inhibitor of PRC2, which demonstrated synergistic activity and improved progression-free survival (PFS) when combined with androgen receptor pathway inhibitors (ARPIs) in models of prostate cancer (Press release, ORIC Pharmaceuticals, APR 28, 2025, View Source [SID1234652240]).

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"We are excited by the potential of ORIC-944 to be a best-in-class PRC2 inhibitor for the treatment of prostate cancer," said Lori Friedman, PhD, chief scientific officer. "The data presented at AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) demonstrate the strong synergy of ORIC-944 when combined with standards of care, reversing the evolution of prostate cancer, and improving progression-free survival in both castration-resistant and castration-sensitive prostate cancer models – validating the clinical exploration of ORIC-944 across the continuum of prostate cancer."

Poster presentation:

ORIC-944, a PRC2 inhibitor with best-in-class properties, restores luminal features and restricts adaptation in prostate cancer models, conferring synergy with AR pathway inhibitors

Key findings of the presentation:

ORIC-944 increased progression-free survival (PFS) when combined with ARPIs in both castration-sensitive and castration-resistant prostate cancer models.
ORIC-944 demonstrated transcriptional synergy and antitumor synergy when combined with ARPIs in prostate cancer cells.
In preclinical prostate cancer models, ORIC-944 demonstrated robust inhibition of PRC2, enhanced luminal cell state, and consistently restricted lineage transcription factor accessibility through chromatin remodeling, ​thereby reenforcing the luminal state and preventing access to plasticity programs.
Results position ORIC-944 as a potential best-in-class PRC2 inhibitor that, through both transcriptional and chromatin mechanisms, blocks prostate tumor adaptation, restores luminal features, and sensitizes tumors to ARPIs.
ORIC-944 is currently being evaluated in combination with ERLEADA (apalutamide) and in combination with NUBEQA (darolutamide) in an ongoing Phase 1b trial for prostate cancer.
About ORIC-944
ORIC-944 is a potent and selective allosteric inhibitor of the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) via the embryonic ectoderm development (EED) subunit that demonstrates best-in-class drug properties in preclinical studies, including potency, solubility, and pharmacokinetics, with half-life supporting once daily dosing. ORIC-944 was initially evaluated as a single agent in a Phase 1b trial in patients with advanced prostate cancer and demonstrated potential best-in-class drug properties, including clinical half-life of approximately 20 hours, robust target engagement and a favorable safety profile. ORIC-944 is currently being evaluated in combination with ERLEADA (apalutamide) and in combination with NUBEQA (darolutamide) in an ongoing Phase 1b trial for prostate cancer (NCT05413421).