On April 14, 2021 TILT Biotherapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing cancer immunotherapeutics, reported a clinical trial collaboration agreement with MSD, a premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical company, to evaluate TILT’s adenoviral cancer immunotherapy TILT-123, a dual cytokine armed oncolytic adenovirus, in combination with KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab), MSD’s anti-PD-1 therapy, in a Phase I dose escalation trial in platinum resistant or refractory ovarian cancer (Press release, TILT Biotherapeutics, APR 14, 2021, View Source [SID1234577994]).

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The trial will include 15 to 30 patients and will be led by Dr. Matt Block at Mayo Clinic (Minnesota, USA). During the first month of the trial, patients will receive TILT-123 monotherapy, and thereafter consecutive treatments of TILT-123 in conjunction with pembrolizumab. The trial’s objective is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of TILT-123 in combination with pembrolizumab and is designed to also deliver insights about the mechanism of action of TILT-123 in humans.

A Phase I trial with TILT-123 conducted in Europe showed no serious adverse events when used as a monotherapy or in combination with tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) at the first dose level (1) and has now progressed to the second dose level.

TILT Biotherapeutics’ CEO, Akseli Hemminki, a biotech entrepreneur and cancer clinician who has personally treated almost 300 patients with ten different oncolytic viruses, said, "There is a pressing need for a therapy to address platinum refractory ovarian cancer. The heart of our approach revolves around the use of oncolytic adenoviruses armed with cytokines to boost the patient’s immune response towards the tumor, enabling it to find and destroy cancer cells. We are delighted to be working with MSD to progress our lead candidate, TILT-123, towards the clinic in combination with its breakthrough immunotherapy KEYTRUDA."

(1) View Source