Tessa Therapeutics, in Collaboration with Baylor College of Medicine, Presents Preclinical Results Showing Enhanced T Cell Responses Against HER2-Posi

PR78528

Tessa Therapeutics, in Collaboration with Baylor College of Medicine, Presents Preclinical Results Showing Enhanced T Cell Responses Against HER2-Positive Solid Tumors Using Novel Combination CAR T Cell Therapy

SINGAPORE, April 30, 2019 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

- Preclinical, 'proof-of-concept' results for a novel 'all-in-one'

immunotherapy for the treatment of Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2

(HER2)-positive solid tumors

- The preclinical findings support the advancement of this multimodal

immunotherapy into a Phase I clinical trial

Tessa Therapeutics, a clinical-stage cell therapy company focused on autologous

and allogeneic therapies for a wide range of cancers, today announced

'proof-of-concept' data from the preclinical study of TT16, a first-of-its-kind

combination immunotherapy that integrates Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T

cell therapy and oncolytic adenovirus expressing immunomodulatory molecules for

the treatment of Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2)-positive solid

tumors.

The results of the preclinical study, a collaboration between Tessa

Therapeutics and Baylor College of Medicine, were presented today at the 2019

American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT) Annual Meeting in Washington,

D.C.

"The preclinical data presented today demonstrates the feasibility of combining

CAR T cell therapy with other immunotherapy agents to overcome the challenges

of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and enhance the T cells'

anti-tumor activity against HER2-positive cancer cells," said Dr. Ivan D.

Horak, M.D., President of Research and Development, Tessa Therapeutics. "These

results support our plans to further develop this next-generation product

candidate. We look forward to progressing the therapy into a Phase I clinical

trial for patients with HER2-positive solid tumors."

In the preclinical study, HER2-specific CAR T anti-tumor activity was evaluated

in HER2-positive human solid tumor animal models. The therapy consists of a

two-step process, in which the models were first injected with a binary

oncolytic adenovirus (CAd) followed by the infusion of HER2-CAR T cells.

The combination therapy showed durable responses in the various tumor models.

Furthermore, CAd secreting PD-L1 blocking antibody and activation cytokine

IL-12p70 improved the persistence and activity of the HER2-CAR T cells even in

advanced disease models showing metastasis similar to those seen in patients.

The data also demonstrates that local treatment of this 'all-in-one' therapy

can systemically enhance the responses of HER2-CAR T cells against

HER2-positive cancer cells.

The abstract, titled "Combination Local Oncolytic Adenoimmunotherapy and

Systemic CAR-T Cell Therapies for Advanced Solid Tumor Treatment" can be found

on the ASGCT meeting website at

http://50.23.255.131/clients/schedule_pdfs/1866/mediaid_183.pdf.

About Tessa Therapeutics

Tessa Therapeutics is a clinical-stage cell therapy company focused on the

development of autologous and off-the-shelf, allogeneic therapies targeting a

wide range of cancers. Tessa's Virus-Specific T cell (VST) platform harnesses

the body's potent anti-viral immune response and has shown early efficacy and a

strong safety profile in the treatment of solid tumors.

Tessa is building a portfolio of innovative, next-generation therapies by

combining VSTs with other immuno-oncology approaches. This portfolio includes a

rapidly growing pipeline of clinical and pre-clinical autologous programs that

target a wide range of cancers, including nasopharyngeal carcinoma, cervical

cancer, oropharyngeal cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, bladder cancer, as

well as head and neck cancer. In addition, Tessa is leveraging its platform to

develop allogeneic therapies to address Epstein-Barr virus-associated lymphomas

and solid tumors.

Tessa has built up robust operational and supply chain capabilities to

successfully deliver T cell therapy treatments to a large patient pool

worldwide. Together with the Company's academic, clinical, and commercial

research partners, Tessa has created a fully-integrated approach to the

treatment of cancer with immunotherapy.

For more information on Tessa, please visit www.tessatherapeutics.com.

Tessa Therapeutics Media Contacts

Gladys Wong

gladyswong@tessatherapeutics.com

+65-6384-0755

Brunswick Group

Will Carnwath, Ben Fry

TessaTherapeutics@brunswickgroup.com

+65-6426-8188

SOURCE  Tessa Therapeutics