Nammi Therapeutics, Inc., a Los Angeles based immunotherapy company, announced that the US Food and Drug Administration has granted orphan drug designation to its lead program, QXL138AM, for the treatment of Pancreatic Cancer.
LOS ANGELES, June 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nammi Therapeutics, Inc. (Nammi), a Los Angeles based immunotherapy company, announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation (ODD) to its lead program, QXL138AM, for the treatment of Pancreatic Cancer. Nammi has previously received ODD for QXL138AM for treatment of multiple myeloma.
QXL138AM is a Masked Immunocytokine (MIC) that targets a masked interferon alpha (IFNα) to the CD138 protein on the surface of the tumor cells. Once bound to the tumor cell, proteases on the tumor cell surface cleave the mask off the IFNα allowing it to bind its receptor. Activation of the IFNAR complex induces direct killing of Pancreatic tumor cells as well as activating innate and adaptive anti-tumor immunity.
Pancreatic Cancer is a relatively rare form of cancer, with the American Cancer Society estimating over 62,210 new cases and 49,830 deaths from Pancreatic Cancer this year. Surgical removal is the only potentially curative treatment known and 80% of patients present with advanced disease that do not benefit from surgery. IFNα based therapeutics have demonstrated anti-tumor activity in clinical studies but are infrequently used due to significant toxicities. QXL138AM directly addresses this toxicity issue by targeting the IFNα to the tumor cells with an anti-CD138 antibody and by masking the IFNα activity until it gets to the tumor.
QXL138AM is a first in class MIC comprised of a CD138-targeted antibody fused with Interferon alpha (IFNα) that is masked with a tumor-selectively releasable peptide. CD138 is expressed in multiple myeloma as well as many different solid tumor indications including pancreatic, breast, colon, hepatic, ovarian, urothelial, and head and neck cancers. Nammi Therapeutics is expecting to file an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the FDA to allow initiation of clinical studies this year.
Nammi Therapeutics, Inc. is an immuno-oncology company based in Los Angeles that is developing platforms and products that selectively activate anti-tumor immunity within the tumor microenvironment while minimizing systemic activation. By reducing systemic activation of the immune system, Nammi expects to improve safety and enhance the ability to combine multiple immune modulators. In addition to the MIC platform, Nammi has also developed a nanoparticle platform to deliver Immune Modulating Prodrugs (IMPs) using their Nammisome technology. Multiple Nammisome clinical candidates have also been selected for development.
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