PRESS RELEASE
Immunocore Highlights IMCgp100 clinical data in Uveal Melanoma
at ASCO 2017 Annual Meeting
(Oxford, UK and Conshohocken, US, 1 June 2017) Immunocore Limited, the world's leading TCR company developing biological drugs to treat cancer, infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases, today announces that new clinical data from a second Phase I study of its lead programme, IMCgp100, will be presented in a poster session at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago on 3 June 2017.
The abstract will be presented by Dr Takami Sato, MD, PhD, Department of Medical Oncology, Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University, in the poster session Melanoma/Skin Cancers on Saturday 3 June, 13:15-16:45. The title of the abstract (number 9531, found at Poster Board number 139) is: Intra-patient escalation dosing strategy with IMCgp100 results in mitigation of T-cell based toxicity and preliminary efficacy in advanced uveal melanoma.
Chris Coughlin, Chief Medical Officer of Immunocore commented: "We continue to be excited by the compelling clinical data we are observing with IMCgp100 in patients uveal melanoma and are advancing our lead programme into a pivotal study. There are no treatments that have shown any survival benefit in this disease so the unmet need is high."
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For more information, please contact:
Immunocore
Eva-Lotta Allan, Chief Business Officer
T: +44 (0)1235 438600
E: info@immunocore.com
Follow on Twitter: @Immunocore
Consilium Strategic Communications
Mary-Jane Elliott/Jessica Hodgson/Chris Welsh/Laura Thornton
T: +44 (0)203 709 5700
E: Elliott@consilium-comms.com; Hodgson@consilium-comms.com; Thornton@consilium-comms.com
Follow on Twitter: @ConsiliumHC
Notes for editors
About Immunocore
Immunocore is the world's leading T cell receptor (TCR) company, a global biotech striving to change medical practice in the most challenging disease areas. Immunocore is focused on delivering first-in-class biological therapies for patients, deploying its pioneering product platform, the soluble TCR ImmTAC® technology. This is a novel class of biologic drugs with the potential to treat multiple major indications including cancer, infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases. Unlike most biological treatment modalities, ImmTAC® molecules can address both extra and intracellular disease targets. Immunocore is advancing towards its goal of becoming a fully-integrated company.
Across the oncology pipeline, Immunocore has collaborations with Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline, MedImmune (the biologics division of AstraZeneca) and a co-discovery and co-development partnership with Lilly across a range of solid tumours. Immunocore's wholly-owned lead programme, IMCgp100, is in a pivotal monotherapy trial in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma. This study builds on the first ever demonstration of compelling single agent efficacy in a solid, 'cold', low mutation tumour - which is challenging for the majority of currently available immuno-oncology agents to address. The Company has also entered into combination trials with IMCgp100 in metastatic cutaneous melanoma, with MedImmune and Lilly.
Immunocore, headquartered near Oxford, UK with offices near Philadelphia, US, employs more than 340 staff, raised $320 million in a Series A round in 2015, and has a broad international investor base including Woodford Investment Management, Malin Corporation, Eli Lilly and Company, RTW Investments, Baker Brothers, Fidelity Management & Research Company as well as other private shareholders. For more information, please visit www.immunocore.com
About IMCgp100
IMCgp100 is a novel bispecific biologic, an ImmTAC which is capable of redirecting T cells against the melanocyte-associated antigen gp100. It has a molecular weight of 77 kilo Dalton (kD). IMCgp100 is manufactured in E. coli and scaled to commercial scale. The drug is administered on a weekly basis. In the first-in-human (FIH) clinical trial (IMCgp100-01), preliminary efficacy of IMCgp100 in advanced uveal and cutaneous melanoma was observed. IMCgp100 is the only novel agent that has initiated pivotal studies in metastatic uveal melanoma. IMCgp100 was granted orphan drug designation by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2016.
In addition to the uveal melanoma study, Immunocore is also conducting a clinical combination study with IMCgp100, combining it with MedImmune's checkpoint inhibitors durvalumab and tremelimumab in patients with metastatic cutaneous melanoma who are refractory to anti-PD-1 therapies.
About Uveal Melanoma
Uveal melanoma is a rare and aggressive form of melanoma which affects the eye with a poor prognosis and no standard of care. Although uveal melanoma is the most common primary intraocular malignancy in adults, representing approximately 3-4% of all melanomas, the diagnosis is rare with approximately 4,000 new patients globally diagnosed per year (1,500 cases/year in US) all stages combined (Chattopadhyay, 2016). Despite aggressive local therapy with surgery and/or radiation therapy, the 5-year survival rate (76%) has not changed in over 30 years (Mahendraraj, 2017) and up to 50% of patients with local disease will develop metastates (Carvajal, 2017; Kujala, 2003). Despite extensive investigation of metastatic uveal melanoma in the clinic, to date no systemic treatment has demonstrated improved survival and no effective therapy has been identified in this disease setting (Carvajal, 2017).
Checkpoint inhibitors and other novel therapies that have transformed the management of cutaneous melanoma, only have limited efficacy in uveal melanoma with an overall response rate (ORR) of only ~5%. The median progressive free survival is no more than 3 months with a median overall survival (OS) ranging from 5 to 10 months. Consequently, there is a critical unmet need for new treatment approaches.
About ImmTAC® Molecules
Immunocore's best in class proprietary TCR technology is focused on a small protein drug called the ImmTAC (Immune mobilising monoclonal TCRs Against Cancer) molecule that enables the immune system to recognise and kill cancerous cells. Immunocore's world-leading competitive advantage is its ImmTAC molecules, a new class of drug with ultra-high affinity for intracellular cancer targets, which is based on synthetic, soluble T cell receptors (TCRs) that naturally recognize cells containing disease specific targets and selectively kill them.
ImmTAC molecules can access up to nine-fold more targets than typical antibody-based therapies, including monoclonal antibodies. Immunocore's TCR technology has a broad applicability to a wide range of intracellular targets and disease indications including solid tumours and can expand into infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases. In oncology, the molecules have the unique ability to tackle solid "cold" low mutation rate tumours - the majority of tumours.
The technology has an encouraging safety profile and is highly scalable, with a low cost of goods.