On May 15, 2020 Transgene (Euronext Paris: TNG), a biotech company that designs and develops virus-based immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, and NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701), a leader in IT and network technologies, reported that they will present data demonstrating that the prediction algorithm used to customize TG4050 for each patient is accurate at identifying immunogenic cancer mutations even among a large set of candidate mutations (Press release, NEC, MAY 15, 2020, View Source [SID1234558111]). These data were jointly generated by the Transgene, NEC and NEC Laboratories Europe GmbH teams and will be presented at the upcoming meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting 2020 (AACR Virtual Annual Meeting II).
Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:
Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing
Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!
TG4050 is an individualized therapeutic vaccine based on Transgene’s myvac technology. It is powered by NEC’s cutting-edge AI capabilities. Two Phase 1 trials with TG4050 are ongoing in Europe and in the USA.
TG4050 has been designed to target up to 30 patient-specific neoantigens (cancer cell mutations) which are selected using NEC’s Neoantigen Prediction System, an advanced AI technology that has already been applied in the field of oncology. The prediction system is based on more than two decades of expertise in AI and has been trained on proprietary immune data, allowing it to accurately prioritize and select the most immunogenic sequences.
To evaluate the accuracy of the prediction, samples from cancer patients were collected. Healthy and tumor tissue were sequenced, and mutations were identified and ranked using the algorithm. These were then evaluated by measuring the frequency of T cells against the predicted antigens. Although preliminary, the results generated to-date suggest that the system can identify rare immunogenic mutation among a large list of candidates identified in the patients.
Transgene uses its expertise in viral vectorization to incorporate the selected neoantigen sequences in the genome of the Modified Vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) viral vector. The Company has set up a unique in-house good manufacturing practice (GMP) unit dedicated to manufacturing the individualized batches of TG4050 needed for the clinical development of this novel individualized therapeutic vaccine.
Title of the poster: « Performance of neoantigen prediction for the design of TG4050, a patient specific neoantigen cancer vaccine »
Authors: Brandon Malone, Caroline Tosch, Benoit Grellier, Kousuke Onoue, Timo Sztyler, Karola Rittner, Yoshiko Yamashita, Eric Quéméneur, Kaïdre Bendjama
Session Date and Time: June 22-24, 2020
Abstract/Poster Number: 4566
The abstract can be downloaded on the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) website.
About TG4050
TG4050 is an individualized immunotherapy being developed for solid tumors that is based on Transgene’s myvac technology and powered by NEC’s longstanding artificial intelligence (AI) expertise. This virus-based therapeutic vaccine encodes neoantigens (patient-specific mutations) identified and selected by NEC’s Neoantigen Prediction System. The prediction system is based on more than two decades of expertise in AI and has been trained on proprietary data allowing it to accurately prioritize and select the most immunogenic sequences.
TG4050 is designed to stimulate the immune system of patients in order to induce a T-cell response that is able to recognize and destroy tumor cells based on their own neoantigens. This individualized immunotherapy is developed for each patient and can be produced in a very short time frame.
This best-in-class candidate is being evaluated in two Phase 1 clinical trials for patients with ovarian cancers (new windowNCT03839524) and HPV-negative head and neck cancers (new windowNCT04183166).
About myvac
myvac is a viral vector (MVA) based, individualized immunotherapy platform that has been developed by Transgene to target solid tumors. myvac-derived products are designed to stimulate the patient’s immune system to recognize and destroy tumors using the patient’s own cancer specific genetic mutations. Transgene has set up an innovative network to support the development of myvac individualized immunotherapies that combines bioengineering, digital transformation, established vectorization know-how and unique manufacturing capabilities. Transgene has been awarded an "Investment for the Future" funding from Bpifrance for the development of its platform myvac. TG4050, the first myvac-derived product, is currently being evaluated in two solid tumor clinical trials.
About NEC’s Neoantigen Prediction System
NEC’s neoantigen prediction utilizes its proprietary artificial intelligence (AI), such as graph-based relational learning, which is combined with other sources of data to discover candidate neoantigen targets. NEC comprehensively evaluates the candidate neoantigens, with a primary focus placed on its in-house major histocompatibility complex (MHC) binding affinity prediction trained on public and proprietary datasets. These allow NEC to effectively prioritize the numerous candidate neoantigens identified in a single patient.