On October 12, 2022 Marengo Therapeutics, Inc., a company pioneering novel therapeutics targeting the T cell receptor Vβ chain (TCR Vβ) to selectively activate the right T cell subsets to fight cancer, reported several upcoming presentations at high-profile scientific conferences including a plenary oral presentation at the 34th ENA Symposium to be held in Barcelona October 26 – 28, 2022 (Press release, Marengo Therapeutics, OCT 12, 2022, View Source [SID1234621978]). The presentation titled "STAR0602, a novel TCR agonist antibody, demonstrates potent anti-tumor activity in refractory solid tumor models through the expansion of a novel, polyclonal effector memory T cell subset", will be presented by James Gulley, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Director of the Center of Immuno-Oncology (CIO), Deputy Director of the Center for Cancer Research (CCR) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and acting Clinical Director, NCI, during the "New Drugs on the Horizon" plenary session on October 28, 2022.

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This presentation follows on Marengo’s recent announcement of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance of its investigational new drug (IND) application and the initiation of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the NCI’s CIO group. Marengo will disclose key preclinical data and detail the study design for START-001 trial, a Phase I/II clinical trial to evaluate STAR0602 as an intravenously administered monotherapy primarily in PD-1 refractory advanced solid tumors, with Dr. Gulley as the lead investigator. The clinical trial is also slated to commence in the fourth quarter of 2022.

"Our team is honored to have been selected for the plenary oral session at this distinguished scientific meeting," said Zhen Su, M.D., MBA, Chief Executive Officer of Marengo. "It is an important opportunity to introduce to the oncology community a new class of selective immune activators to reinvigorate the immune system with the potential to transform the treatment paradigm and broaden our arsenal of cancer therapies for patients."

"Marengo’s STAR0602 antibody has a compelling and differentiated mechanism of action that works upstream from checkpoint inhibitors – by activating memory T cells of the immune system instead of rescuing exhausted cells," said Bruce Chabner, M.D., Senior Strategic Advisor to Marengo and an Allen Distinguished Investigator, Clinical Director Emeritus for the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, and a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. "This approach allows us to activate a new band of brothers instead of trying to fix a pathway that has been ineffective. STAR0602, which activates a broad range of antitumor T cells, is not restricted to a specific tumor antigen, and therefore maintains a broad spectrum of activity across multiple tumor related antigens and different solid tumors."

Marengo and its academic collaborators will have three additional presentations at the upcoming 37th Annual SITC (Free SITC Whitepaper) Conference. The company plans to share novel biological insights on targeting the Vβ chain of the TCR as an innovative approach to selectively activating T cells for oncology, as well as providing an overview of the comprehensive translational data that supports dosing of IV-administered STAR0602 to patients.

Details for the presentations are as follows:
Title: STAR0602, a novel TCR agonist antibody, demonstrates potent anti-tumor activity in refractory solid tumor models through the expansion of a novel, polyclonal effector memory T cell subset
Conference: 34th EORTC-NCI-AACR (Free EORTC-NCI-AACR Whitepaper) Symposium
Abstract Number: ENA22-0183
Session Topic: New Therapies in Immuno-Oncology
Session Title: New Drugs on the Horizon, Plenary Session 6
Session Date: October 28, 2022
Presenter: James Gulley, M.D., Ph.D. (National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland USA)

Title: A novel class of T cell-activating antibody that selectively targets the TCR β chain to promote antitumor activity through activation and expansion of a novel, polyclonal effector memory T cell subset
Abstract Number: 1316
Conference: 37th Annual SITC (Free SITC Whitepaper) Conference
Presenter: Andrew Bayliffe, Ph.D. (Marengo Therapeutics, Cambridge, Massachusetts USA)

Title: Preclinical evaluation of STAR0602, a novel, first-in-class anti-TCR Vβ targeted bispecific antibody with potent anti-tumor activity for PD-1 refractory solid tumors
Abstract Number: 1337
Conference: 37th Annual SITC (Free SITC Whitepaper) Conference
Presenter: James Gulley, M.D., Ph.D. (National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland USA)

Title: An atypical central-memory like phenotype can be induced in human T cells by Innate TCRαβ engagement
Abstract Number: 1392
Conference: 37th Annual SITC (Free SITC Whitepaper) Conference
Presenter: Pierre Vantourout, Ph.D. (Kings College London, London, UK)