Tollys accelerates development of TLR3 agonist candidates for intravenous administration in immuno-oncology

• Extension of research collaboration with global leader in immuno-oncology
• Acceleration and expansion of Tollys R&D on TLR3 agonist candidates for intravenous administration and antibody-drug-conjugates

Lyon, France, January 31, 2022 — Tollys, a biopharmaceutical company developing the first anti-cancer immunotherapy based on a synthetic Toll-Like Receptor 3 (TLR3) specific agonist, today announces that it has renewed and extended its research collaboration started in 2020 with a global pharmaceutical company, a leader in immuno-oncology. The company also announces the acceleration and expansion of its R&D platform in the fields of TLR3 agonist candidates for intravenous administration and Antibody-Drug-Conjugates (ADC, or AOC for Antibody-Oligonucleotide-Conjugates).

Based on the strong preclinical data collected to date with locally administered TL-532, Tollys is also accelerating and expanding its internal and collaborative R&D activities on TLR3 agonist candidates designed for intravenous administration and antibody-drug-conjugates. Tollys is thus running several parallel preclinical programs using different vectorization and targeting methods for its TLR3 agonist candidate(s). According to Tollys, TL-532 is the first chemically conjugable specific TLR3 agonist usable as a payload with antibodies and other carriers.

This acceleration in the development of candidates for intravenous administration is in line with the recommendations of the international board of the European oncology innovation acceleration program MATWIN which awarded Tollys TLR3 agonist the status of  ‘best-in-class innovation of the year’ in May 2021.

“Our renewed and extended pharma collaboration is further confirmation of the potential of specific TLR3 agonists. We are also very excited to advance our R&D programs for the selection of candidates for intravenous administration; we estimate that a lot more patients could benefit from treatment with TLR3 agonists, if administered intravenously rather than locally,” said Vincent Charlon, CEO of Tollys.

About TL-532

TL-532 is the first synthetic specific TLR3 agonist with a proprietary defined double-stranded RNA sequence. As such, TL-532 has the potential to be the best-in-class and first-to-market TLR3 agonist. TL-532 was shown to have a triple mechanism of action inducing 1) death by apoptosis selective to cancer cells – not in normal cells, leading to the in-situ release of tumor specific antigens, 2) activation of the myeloid dendritic cells of the immune system to mount a specific T-cell response against the tumor antigens and 3) switch of the tumor microenvironment, by producing cytokines and chemokines which prevent tumor development. The result is the immunogenic cell death of tumor cells, together with an auto-vaccination preventing the recurrence of cancer.

About Tollys

Tollys is a biopharmaceutical company focused on cutting-edge cancer immunotherapy and on the biology and modulation of the TLR3 receptor. Tollys discovered and patented a family of new structurally defined dsRNA sequences able to activate the TLR3 receptor. TL-532 was selected as the lead-candidate for development. TL-532 is a structurally defined double-stranded RNA, produced synthetically and highly specific to the TLR3 receptor. The specificity for the TLR3 receptor and its defined 70 base pair sequence differentiates TL-532 from all other TLR3 agonists tested to date in clinical trials. In 2021, TL-532 was named the ‘best-in-class innovation of the year’ by the international board of MATWIN, a European oncology innovation acceleration program. Founded in 2015 by pharmaceutical executives and scientists from the Cancer Research Center in Lyon, Tollys’ offices and research laboratories are based in Lyon, France. The company has raised a total of €7M ($7.9M) from private investors and in July 2020 received a grant of €1.5M ($1.7M) from Bpifrance.

www.tollys.fr