Oslo, 3 February2022: Ultimovacs ASA, a clinical stage leader in immune stimulatory vaccines for cancer, announced it has completed treatment of the second dose cohort in the Phase I TENDU trial.
- No safety concerns found in first two dose level cohorts
- Enables progression to highest dosing level in assessment of Ultimovacs’ second vaccine technology platform
Oslo, 3 February2022: Ultimovacs ASA (“Ultimovacs”) (OSE ULTI), a clinical stage leader in immune stimulatory vaccines for cancer, announced it has completed treatment of the second dose cohort in the Phase I TENDU trial. The study is designed to evaluate the Company’s Tetanus-Epitope Targeting (TET)-platform in patients with prostate cancer.
The Drug Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB), a group of experts set up to monitor patient safety during a clinical trial, found no safety concerns related to the first two dose cohorts. A total of six patients have been treated; three in each dose level (40 and 400 μg). The conclusion from the DSMB enables the dose escalation study to proceed with enrollment of patients in the third and last dose cohort (960 μg).
“The continued progress of the Phase 1 safety evaluation of the TET platform is very encouraging.” said Jens Bjørheim, Chief Medical Officer of Ultimovacs. “Our main focus at this stage in the TENDU study is the safety and tolerability of our new therapeutic vaccine candidate for prostate cancer, a cancer type where the unmet medical need is high. This result also feeds into Ultimovacs’ plans for the development of the TET platform more broadly as an extension of the company’s pipeline.”
The TET platform, an innovative adjuvant technology, allows for the design and production of multiple therapeutic cancer vaccines. It can potentially be used to strengthen and increase T cell responses to cancer cells by targeting antigens that are specific to one type of cancer or common to many tumor types. The vaccine used in the TENDU study contains prostate cancer-specific antigens. By combining cancer antigens and the vaccine adjuvant in the same molecule, the TET platform can generate vaccine candidates with a potential beneficial safety and administration profile, including presenting an opportunity to treat patients at an early stage of their disease.
The TENDU study is a first-in-human, dose-escalation study designed to generate initial safety and immune activation data. This study is investigating a prostate cancer-specific therapeutic TET-based vaccine in patients who have relapsed following radical prostatectomy.
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About the TET-platform
All vaccines consist of two components; adjuvant and antigen. The adjuvant activates the immune system so that a relevant immune response can happen. The antigen directs the quality of the immune response. Together the adjuvant and the antigen ensure a specific and effective immune response.
The Tetanus-Epitope Targeting (TET)-platform offers an approach to strengthen and increase T cell responses against cancer-specific peptides by combining cancer-specific antigens and vaccine adjuvant in the same conjugated molecule, allowing for a potential beneficial safety profile and simplifying administration. The platform generates new, first-in-class cancer vaccine candidates that harness pre-existing antibody responses resulting from standard tetanus vaccinations. TET vaccine candidates can be tailored to many types of cancer.
About TENDU
The TENDU clinical trial (NCT04701021) is a first-in-human, Phase I study and the first clinical trial of a vaccine from Ultimovacs’ Tetanus-Epitope Targeting (TET)-platform. The trial is being conducted at the Oslo University Hospital, Norway, and evaluates the safety of the vaccine in prostate cancer patients who have relapsed after radical prostatectomy. The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of three different doses of the vaccine. Patients will receive the vaccine prior to obtaining standard-of-care treatment consisting of radiation and antihormone therapy and will be followed for 6 months after the last dose of the vaccine to assess immunological responses such as the activation of T cells and anti-tumor activity.
About Ultimovacs
Ultimovacs is developing immune-stimulatory vaccines to treat a broad range of cancers. Ultimovacs’ lead universal cancer vaccine candidate UV1 targets human telomerase (hTERT), present in 85-90% of cancers in all stages of tumor growth. By directing the immune system to hTERT antigens, UV1 drives CD4 helper T cells to the tumor to activate an immune system cascade and increase anti-tumor responses. With a broad Phase II program, Ultimovacs aims to clinically demonstrate UV1’s impact in multiple cancer types in combination with other immunotherapies. Ultimovacs’ second technology approach, based on the proprietary Tetanus-Epitope-Targeting (TET) platform, combines tumor-specific peptides and adjuvant in the same molecule and entered Phase I studies in 2021.
For further information, please see www.ultimovacs.com or contact:
Carlos de Sousa, CEO
Email: carlos.desousa@ultimovacs.com
Phone: +47 908 92507
Anne Worsøe, Head of IR & Communication
Email: anne.worsoe@ultimovacs.com
Phone: +47 90686815
Mary-Ann Chang, LifeSci Advisors
Email: mchang@lifesciadvisors.com
Phone: +44 7483 284 853
This information is considered to be inside information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 in the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
This stock exchange announcement was published by Joachim Midttun, Finance Manager at Ultimovacs ASA, on 3 February, 2022 at 08:00 CET.
