On March 14, 2023 Corvus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRVS), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, reported that it will present new data for CPI-818, the Company’s ITK inhibitor, at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting, which is taking place April 14-19, 2023 in Orlando, FL (Press release, Corvus Pharmaceuticals, MAR 14, 2023, View Source [SID1234628643]).

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The data demonstrates that in a murine syngeneic CT26 colon cancer model, single-agent CPI-818 showed anti-tumor activity, and when CPI-818 was combined with suboptimal doses of anti-PD1 and anti-CTLA4 therapy, 100% of treated animals achieved complete tumor elimination. In addition, this triplet combination achieved durable anti-tumor immune memory demonstrated by the introduction and complete elimination of new CT26 tumor cells in already treated animals. Corvus believes these findings provide the foundation for potential future human clinical trials of CPI-818 for the treatment of solid tumors.

"We have prioritized the development of CPI-818 given its broad potential across oncology and immune disease," said Richard A. Miller, M.D., co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Corvus. "Our strategy is similar to the development of BTK inhibitors, starting in lymphoma, where we have established CPI-818’s safety and activity profile with plans to explore other oncology and immune disease indications. The new data that will be presented at AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) we believe provides the foundation for CPI-818 to be studied as a treatment for solid tumors. It shows that selective ITK inhibition modulates the immune response to be more active against tumor cells, which may enable the next generation of tumor immunotherapy."

CPI-818 is currently being studied in a Phase 1/1b clinical trial as a single agent therapy in patients with relapsed T cell lymphoma (TCL). Data from this study has shown that CPI-818 induces Th1 skewing, which is the maturation of T cells into mature effector T cells that are capable of eliminating cancer cells and viral infected cells. The data to be presented at AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) further explores the mechanisms behind these properties, demonstrating that anti-tumor activity required CD8+ T cells, and that treatment with CPI-818 increased CD8+ T effector cell tumor infiltration. In addition, levels of several exhaustion makers were down-regulated by treatment with CPI-818, suggesting that inhibition of ITK by CPI-818 produces favorable changes in the tumor microenvironment that could enhance anti-tumor immune system activity.

Details regarding the CPI-818 poster presentation at AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper), which will be available in the poster hall and the Corvus website, are as follows:

Date and Time: Monday, April 17, 2023, from 9:00 am – 12:30 PM ET

Title: Selective ITK blockade induces antitumor responses and enhances efficacy to immune checkpoint inhibitors in preclinical models

Abstract #: 1813

Presenter: Lih-Yun Hsu, Ph.D., Director of Immunology, Corvus Pharmaceuticals