Transgene and BioInvent joint paper on BT-001 wins JITC “Best Oncolytic and Local Immunotherapy Paper” Award for 2022

Winning paper demonstrates potential of vectorized novel CTLA-4 targeting antibodies and was highlighted at SITC 2022

Reaffirms potential of BT-001, an oncolytic virus co-developed by Transgene and BioInvent currently in a Phase I/IIa trial

Strasbourg, France, November 14, 2022, 08:00 am CET – Transgene (Euronext Paris: TNG), a biotech company that designs and develops virus-based immunotherapeutics against cancer, and BioInvent International AB (“BioInvent”) (Nasdaq Stockholm: BINV), a biotech company focused on the discovery and development of novel and first-in-class immuno-modulatory antibodies for cancer immunotherapy, today announced that a paper co-authored by researchers from Transgene and BioInvent is the recipient of this year’s Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC) “Best Oncolytic and Local Immunotherapy Paper” Award. The paper on BT-001 was highlighted at the annual Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) conference being held November 8-12, 2022 in Boston, MA.

The annual award, judged by a prestigious review committee of SITC leadership and the JITC Editorial Board, recognizes one paper in the “Oncolytic and Local Immunotherapy” category for presenting outstanding research on the role of therapeutic agents designed to target tumor cells or the tumor microenvironment.

The winning paper, Vectorized Treg-depleting αCTLA-4 elicits antigen cross-presentation and CD8+ T cell immunity to reject ‘cold’ tumors, demonstrates in vivo proof of concept for Treg depleting immune checkpoint blocking vectorized αCTLA-4 as a highly effective and safe strategy to target CTLA-4.

Transgene and BioInvent are co-developing BT-001, an oncolytic virus developed using Transgene’s Invir.IO™ platform that is armed with an anti-CTLA-4 antibody to illicit a strong and effective anti-tumor response. The drug is currently being evaluated in a Phase I/IIa clinical trial as a single agent and in combination with the PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab) against solid tumors. Positive initial Phase I data announced in June 2022 confirmed the mechanism of action of BT-001 as a single agent and demonstrated first signs of anti-tumor activity.

The papers’ two co-first authors, Dr Monika Semmrich, Principal Scientist at BioInvent, and Dr Jean-Baptiste Marchand, Head of the Protein Science Lab at Transgene, will each receive a monetary prize. The award has been presented at the SITC Meeting Awards Ceremony, taking place Friday, November 11 from 8:00 – 8:20 a.m. EST.

The full paper can be accessed here.

KEYTRUDA is a registered trademark of Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA.

About BT-001

BT-001 is an oncolytic virus generated using Transgene’s Invir.IO™ platform and its patented large-capacity VV_copTK^-RR^- oncolytic virus, which has been engineered to encode both a Treg-depleting human recombinant anti-CTLA-4 antibody generated by BioInvent’s proprietary n-CoDeR^/F.I.R.S.T™ platforms, and the human GM-CSF cytokine. By selectively targeting the tumor microenvironment, BT-001 is expected to elicit a much stronger and more effective antitumoral response. As a consequence, by reducing systemic exposure, the safety and tolerability profile of the anti-CTLA-4 antibody will be greatly improved. BT-001 is being co-developed as part of a 50/50 collaboration on oncolytic viruses between Transgene and BioInvent. To know more on BT-001, watch our video here.

About Transgene

Transgene (Euronext: TNG) is a biotechnology company focused on designing and developing targeted immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. Transgene’s programs utilize viral vector technology with the goal of indirectly or directly killing cancer cells.

The Company’s clinical-stage programs consist of two therapeutic vaccines (TG4001 for the treatment of HPV-positive cancers, and TG4050, the first individualized therapeutic vaccine based on the myvac platform) as well as two oncolytic viruses (TG6002 for the treatment of solid tumors, and BT-001, the first oncolytic virus based on the Invir.IO™ platform).

With Transgene’s myvac platform, therapeutic vaccination enters the field of precision medicine with a novel immunotherapy that is fully tailored to each individual. The myvac approach allows the generation of a virus-based immunotherapy that encodes patient-specific mutations identified and selected by Artificial Intelligence capabilities provided by its partner NEC.

With its proprietary platform Invir.IO™, Transgene is building on its viral vector engineering expertise to design a new generation of multifunctional oncolytic viruses. Transgene has an ongoing Invir.IO™ collaboration with AstraZeneca. 

Additional information about Transgene is available at: www.transgene.fr.

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