PureTech Health PLC PRTC Presents New Immuno-oncology Data at AACR
June 22 2020 - 9:00AM
RNS Non-Regulatory
TIDMPRTC
PureTech Health PLC
22 June 2020
22 June 2020
PureTech Health plc
PureTech Presents New Data Reinforcing Galectin-9 as a
Compelling Therapeutic Target and Biomarker for a Range of Cancers
at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting
Data include largest cohort of breast cancer samples ever
evaluated in this context and demonstrate that high levels of
galectin-9 are associated with shorter time to disease relapse
Wholly-owned novel monoclonal antibody (LYT-200) is designed to
selectively inhibit galectin-9, with a first-in-human clinical
trial expected to begin in 2H 2020
PureTech Health plc (LSE: PRTC) ("PureTech" or the "Company"), a
clinical-stage biotherapeutics company dedicated to discovering,
developing and commercialising highly differentiated medicines for
devastating diseases, today shared new data establishing galectin-9
as a novel target for cancer immunotherapy and providing compelling
evidence that therapies targeting galectin-9 may enable the immune
system to attack an array of solid tumours. The data were shared in
a scientific poster presented at the June session of the American
Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2020 Virtual Annual
Meeting.
PureTech is developing a first-in-class, fully human monoclonal
antibody targeting galectin-9. The product candidate, LYT-200, is
expected to enter a first-in-human, Phase 1a/1b study in 2020 in
hard-to-treat cancers, including pancreatic, cholangiocarcinoma and
certain types of colorectal and liver cancers, which remain
insufficiently responsive or resistant to currently approved
checkpoint inhibitors. PureTech has previously presented data
demonstrating LYT-200's efficacy in reducing tumour growth and
reactivating human effector T cells in preclinical, patient-derived
tumour culture models.
"These new data clearly establish the importance of galectin-9
as a therapeutic target, given that its high expression across
tumour types correlates with poor patient outcomes. Our analysis of
more than 1,000 samples from human breast cancer tumours found that
high levels of galectin-9 are associated with shorter time to
disease relapse as well as with a tumour microenvironment that
lacks cytotoxic CD8+ T cells that would otherwise be able to attack
the tumour," said Joseph Bolen, PhD, chief scientific officer at
PureTech. "Our first-in-class monoclonal antibody, LYT-200, is
designed to target and inhibit galectin-9 and thereby reverse this
suppression of the immune system to boost its ability to destroy
tumours. We're proud to be presenting this research at AACR and
look forward to advancing LYT-200 into the clinic later this year,
as well as to progressing our work on galectin-9 as a
biomarker."
The AACR poster details a study undertaken by PureTech and its
academic collaborators to evaluate the importance of galectin-9
expression in the tissues of cancer patients. The study is believed
to include the largest cohort of breast cancer patient samples ever
evaluated in this context, as well as robust cohorts of pancreatic
and cholangiocarcinoma cases, and it found high expression of
galectin-9 across all of these tumour types. Importantly, the
highest levels of galectin-9 correlated with shorter time to
disease relapse and poor survival. Strong galectin-9 expression was
observed on the membranes of tumours with poor prognosis, which
indicates this target is attractive for an antibody therapeutic
such as LYT-200. In breast cancer, galectin-9 expression was
associated with tumours showing worse pathological features, such
as high tumour grade and estrogen receptor negativity, as well as
features characteristic of an immunosuppressed tumour
microenvironment, including the absence of CD8+ T cells.
Collectively, these data suggest that galectin-9 could be
significant both as a therapeutic target for a range of cancers and
as a cancer biomarker, which PureTech intends to explore further
for patient stratification.
About PureTech Health
PureTech is a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company dedicated
to discovering, developing and commercialising highly
differentiated medicines for devastating diseases, including
intractable cancers, lymphatic and gastrointestinal diseases,
central nervous system disorders and inflammatory and immunological
diseases, among others. The Company has created a broad and deep
pipeline through the expertise of its experienced research and
development team and its extensive network of scientists,
clinicians and industry leaders. This pipeline, which is being
advanced both internally and through PureTech's Founded Entities,
is comprised of 24 products and product candidates, including two
that have been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration
(FDA). All of the underlying programmes and platforms that resulted
in this pipeline of product candidates were initially identified or
discovered and then advanced by the PureTech team through key
validation points based on the Company's unique insights into the
biology of the brain, immune and gut, or BIG, systems and the
interface between those systems, referred to as the BIG Axis.
For more information, visit www.puretechhealth.com or connect
with us on Twitter @puretechh.
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company's future prospects, developments, and strategies. The
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are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could
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to, those risks and uncertainties described in the risk factors
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neither the company nor any other party intends to update or revise
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Contact:
Investors EU media US media
Allison Mead Talbot Ben Atwell, Rob Winder Stephanie Simon
+1 617 651 3156 +44 (0) 20 3727 1000 +1 617 581 9333
amt@puretechhealth.com ben.atwell@FTIconsulting.com stephanie@tenbridgecommunications.com
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