HOUSTON - Coya Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: COYA) ('Coya' or the 'Company'), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing biologics intended to enhance regulatory T cell (Treg) function, announces that Dr. Alireza Faridar, the Stanley H. Appel Chair in Translational Neuroscience, Stanley H. Appel Department of Neurology at Houston Methodist, will present data showing the contribution of chronic systemic inflammation and dysfunctional Tregs in Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) patients at the AD/PD 2024 Conference.

The AD/PD 2024 Conference will be held March 5-9, 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal.

The poster, titled 'Deciphering the Role of the Peripheral Immune System in the Pathology of Frontotemporal Dementia,' will be presented on March 6 and 7. The work was funded by a grant from the Houston Methodist Clinical Scholar Award Program.

Dr. Fred Grossman, Coya's Chief Medical Officer, stated: 'As will be demonstrated in this data, FTD is characterized by pronounced inflammation from compromised Treg cells and other pro-inflammatory mediators. This presentation will highlight the complexity of neuroinflammatory pathways, providing the rationale for our planned IND filing for COYA 302, our combination therapeutic candidate, in FTD patients in 4Q24.'

About COYA 302

COYA 302 is an investigational and proprietary biologic combination therapy with a dual immunomodulatory mechanism of action intended to enhance the anti-inflammatory function of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and suppress the inflammation produced by activated monocytes and macrophages. COYA 302 is comprised of proprietary low dose interleukin-2 (LD IL-2) and CTLA-4 Ig and is being developed for subcutaneous administration for the treatment of patients with ALS, FTD, and PD. These mechanisms may have additive or synergistic effects.

In February of 2023, Coya announced results from a proof-of-concept, open-label clinical study evaluating commercially available LD IL-2 and CTLA-4 Ig in a small cohort of patients with ALS conducted at the Houston Methodist Research Institute (Houston, Texas) by Stanley Appel, M.D., Jason Thonhoff, M.D., Ph.D., and David Beers, Ph.D. This study was the first-of-its-kind evaluating this dual-mechanism immunotherapy for the treatment of ALS. Patients in the study received investigational treatment for 48 consecutive weeks and were evaluated for safety and tolerability, Treg function, serum biomarkers of oxidative stress and inflammation, and clinical functioning as measured by the ALSFRS-R scale.

During the 48-week treatment period, the therapy was well tolerated. The most common adverse event was mild injection-site reactions. No patient discontinued the study, and no deaths or other serious adverse events were reported.

Patients' disease progression was measured using the ALSFRS-R scale, a validated rating tool for monitoring the progression of disability in patients with ALS. The mean (+/-SD) ALSFRS-R scores at week 24 (33.75 +/-3.3) and week 48 (32 +/-7.8) after initiation of treatment were not statistically different compared to the ALSFRS-R score at baseline (33.5 +/-5.9), suggesting significant amelioration in the progression of the disease over the 48-week treatment period.

Treg suppressive function, expressed as percentage of inhibition of proinflammatory T cell proliferation, showed a statistically significant increase over the course of the treatment period and was significantly reduced at the end of the 8-week washout post-treatment period. Treg suppressive function at 24 weeks (79.9 +/-9.6) and 48 weeks (89.5 +/-4.1) were significantly higher compared to baseline (62.1 +/-8.1) (p

(C) 2024 Electronic News Publishing, source ENP Newswire