Date: 2016-04-21
Type of information: Presentation of results at a congress
phase: preclinical
Announcement: presentation of results at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting
Company: Affimed (Germany)
Product: AFM21, AFM22 (NK- and T-cell TandAbs generated against EGFRvIII) and AFM24 (EGFR/CD16A)
Action
mechanism: bispecific antibody/fusion protein. AFM21 (T-cell-engager targeting EGFRvIII and CD3) and AFM22 (NK-cell-engager targeting EGFRvIII and CD16A) both specifically bind to Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor variant III (EGFRvIII) on solid tumor cells. Both targets are bound with high affinity, whereby T-cells or NK-cells are activated and redirected to kill the cancer cells. EGFRvIII is a mutated variant of the wild type EGFR expressed only in certain tumor cells, whereas the wild type receptor is ubiquitously expressed in healthy epithelial tissues. It has been shown to be a highly specific marker for a portion of certain solid tumors including glioblastoma, prostate cancer and head and neck cancer. Based on current research, EGFRvIII is not expressed by healthy tissues, which makes it a unique target for a highly potent cancer immunotherapy. AFM21 and AFM22 both selectively bind to EGFRvIII but not EGFR. Both programs are in preclinical development for the treatment of solid tumors expressing EGFRvIII. AFM24 is an NK-cell engaging TandAb targeting CD16A. Both targets are bound with high affinity, whereby NK-cells are redirected and activated to kill the cancer cells. It selectively binds to EGFRwt but not EGFRvIII. AFM24 is in preclinical development for the treatment of solid tumors overexpressing EGFRwt.
Disease: solid tumors
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
Country:
Trial details:
Latest
news: * On April 21, 2016, Affimed announced that the cmpany presented data on its EGFR-targeting TandAb immune cell engagers on Sunday, April 17, in two poster presentation at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2016 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA. Affimed has developed novel tetravalent, bi-specific TandAbs that recognize EGFRvIII, the most prevalent tumor-specific variant of the epidermal growth factor receptor, and TandAbs that target the wild-type EGFR (EGFRwt), which, when constitutively activated through binding by growth factors or mutations, plays an important role in the pathophysiology of numerous solid cancers such as colorectal, lung or head and neck cancer. The data presented at AACR demonstrate that Affimed's EGFR-targeting preclinical candidates AFM21 (EGFRvIII/CD3), AFM22 (EGFRvIII/CD16A) and AFM24 (EGFR/CD16A) are highly specific and potent drug candidates suitable for the treatment of solid tumors with potentially broader and superior therapeutic properties compared to competitors' products. Specifically utilizing the cytotoxic potential of NK-cells for the elimination of EGFR-overexpressing cancer cells, Affimed engineered a set of EGFRwt/CD16A TandAbs and selected ideal candidates based on their binding, thermostability and cytotoxic properties. The selected lead candidate, AFM24, was shown to bind to human and cynomolgus EGFRwt and CD16A, respectively, and was highly stable in buffer and serum. In addition, AFM24 demonstrated high affinity binding and specificity to several EGFR-positive cell lines from different tumor types, with no binding observed to target-negative cells. Directly compared to cetuximab, AFM24 showed superior anti-tumor efficacy in vitro.
