Transgene and BioInvent International AB announced that they will present additional preclinical data on their novel dual mechanism-of-action oncolytic vaccinia virus BT-001 at the 36th Annual Meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC2021) in November 2021. SITC2021 will take place on November 10–14, 2021, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. and virtually. The poster will be presented on November 13, with the title “Vectorized Treg-depleting aCTLA-4 elicits antigen cross-presentation and CD8+ T cell immunity to reject “cold” tumors”.

Authors: Monika Semmrich, Jean-Baptiste Marchand, Matilda Rehn, Laetitia Fend, Christelle Remy, Petra Holmkvist, Nathalie Silvestre, Carolin Svensson, Patricia Kleinpeter, Jules Deforges, Fred Junghus, Linda Mårtensson, Johann Foloppe, Ingrid Teige, Eric Quéméneur and Björn Frendéus. BT-001 is an oncolytic virus generated using Transgene's Invir.IO platform and its patented large-capacity VVcopTK-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 is expected to be greatly improved. BT-001 is being co-developed as part of a 50/50 collaboration between BioInvent and Transgene. Recruitment in the ongoing Phase I/IIa clinical study of BT-001 (NCT04725331) in Europe and the U.S. is progressing well.

The trial evaluates BT-001 as a single agent and in combination with pembrolizumab for the treatment of solid tumors. Initial Phase I data are expected in the first half of 2022.