Achilles Therapeutics Announces Research Collaboration with Arcturus Therapeutics to Explore Second-Generation Personalized mRNA Cancer Vaccines
May 22 2024 - 7:00AM
Achilles Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ: ACHL), a clinical-stage
biopharmaceutical company developing AI-powered precision T cell
therapies to treat solid tumors, today announced a research
collaboration with Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings
Inc. (NASDAQ: ARCT), an mRNA medicines company, to evaluate
best-in-class, self-amplifying mRNA (sa-mRNA) personalized cancer
vaccines (PCVs) targeting clonal neoantigens. The research
collaboration will combine Achilles’ best-in-class AI-driven,
tumor-targeting technology with Arcturus’ world-leading sa-mRNA
platform.
“This collaboration combines the unique
capability of PELEUS to select targets with the highest immunogenic
potential expressed by all tumour cells, together with the proven,
world-class STARR vaccine platform. With this combination we aim to
deliver more potent and durable responses that could positively
impact the outcomes for patients,” said Dr Iraj Ali, CEO of
Achilles Therapeutics. “While we advance our TIL-based, clonal
neoantigen reactive T cells (cNeT) programs in the ongoing CHIRON
and THETIS Phase 2 trials, this collaboration allows us to leverage
our neoantigen expertise in a new modality that could benefit a
different group of earlier-stage patients."
The collaboration has the potential to generate
IND-enabling data which demonstrate the ability of PELEUS to select
multiple, highly immunogenic clonal neoantigens that can be
expressed with the Arcturus STARR® platform to generate potent and
durable T cell responses. Any subsequent clinical development will
be jointly agreed by the parties.
About Cancer Vaccines Tumor
cells will typically express hundreds of mutations, called
neoantigens, as potential targets for immunotherapy, however only a
very small proportion of these are able to induce T cell responses
that can lead to tumor control. Cancer vaccines aim to boost the
activity of the T cells that can recognize these rare neoantigens.
However, vaccine platforms are limited by the number of neoantigens
they can target (typically 20-30) and it is therefore critical to
select the most potent neoantigens that can activate the T cells in
order to maximize the potential of delivering clinical efficacy.
Achilles’ PELEUS™ platform uses proprietary AI-technology to select
the most immunogenic clonal neoantigens with the lowest immune
evasion potential that are present on all of a patient’s cancer
cells.
About Achilles
TherapeuticsAchilles is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical
company developing AI-powered precision T cell therapies targeting
clonal neoantigens: protein markers unique to the individual that
are expressed on the surface of every cancer cell. The Company has
two ongoing Phase I/IIa trials, the CHIRON trial in patients with
advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and the THETIS trial in
patients with recurrent or metastatic melanoma. Achilles uses DNA
sequencing data from each patient, together with its proprietary
PELEUS™ bioinformatics platform, to identify clonal neoantigens
specific to that patient, and then develop precision T cell-based
product candidates specifically targeting those clonal
neoantigens.
About PELEUSPELEUS is a
proprietary, AI-powered bioinformatics platform built and validated
through exclusive access to TRACERx knowhow and genomics data.
PELEUS uses sophisticated Bayesian statistical algorithms to
distinguish which mutations, or neoantigens, in a patient’s tumor
are clonal or subclonal by analyzing DNA sequencing information
from multiple tumor regions. Clonal neoantigens are protein markers
that are present on all of an individual’s cancer cells but are
absent from healthy tissue, making them ideal cancer targets. The
information from PELEUS provides the foundation for Achilles’ VELOS
manufacturing process to produce clonal neoantigen-reactive T
cells, or cNeT.
About TRACERxTRACERx (TRAcking
Cancer Evolution through therapy (Rx)), led by Professor
Charles Swanton at UCL, is one of the largest tumor
evolution studies to generate deep sequencing multi-region and
multi-time point genetic data from over 3,200 tumor samples from
nearly 800 lung cancer patients. TRACERx has transformed the
understanding of tumor evolution and has convincingly shown that
tumors originate from a single cell that evolves in a Darwinian
manner and the early (clonal) mutations are preserved in all
subsequent primary and metastatic tumor cells. The study, which has
generated numerous publications, uncovered important mechanisms of
cancer evolution and immune evasion by analyzing genetic signatures
in lung tumors and tracking how they evolve over time from
diagnosis through to relapse. These findings provide the ability to
identify a novel class of tumor markers called clonal neoantigens
that are present on all tumor cells yet absent from healthy tissue,
making them ideal cancer targets. TRACERx represents the largest
investment in lung cancer research by Cancer Research UK and
Achilles has exclusive commercial rights to the TRACERx study data
for development of neoantigen-targeting cell therapies and
vaccines.
About Arcturus
TherapeuticsFounded in 2013 and based in San Diego,
California, Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq:
ARCT) is a global mRNA medicines and vaccines company with enabling
technologies: (i) LUNAR® lipid-mediated delivery, (ii) STARR® mRNA
Technology (sa-mRNA) and (iii) mRNA drug substance along with drug
product manufacturing expertise. Arcturus developed the first
self-amplifying messenger RNA (sa-mRNA) COVID vaccine (Kostaive®)
in the world to be approved. Arcturus has an ongoing global
collaboration for innovative mRNA vaccines with CSL Seqirus, and a
joint venture in Japan, ARCALIS, focused on the
manufacture of mRNA vaccines and therapeutics. Arcturus’ pipeline
includes RNA therapeutic candidates to potentially treat ornithine
transcarbamylase deficiency and cystic fibrosis, along with its
partnered mRNA vaccine programs for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) and
influenza. Arcturus’ versatile RNA therapeutics platforms can be
applied toward multiple types of nucleic acid medicines including
messenger RNA, small interfering RNA, circular RNA, antisense RNA,
self-amplifying RNA, DNA, and gene editing therapeutics. Arcturus’
technologies are covered by its extensive patent portfolio (over
400 patents and patent applications in
the U.S., Europe, Japan, China, and other
countries). For more information, visit www.ArcturusRx.com. In
addition, please connect with us
on Twitter and LinkedIn.
About
STARR®The STARR Technology platform
combines self-replicating RNA with LUNAR®, a leading nanoparticle
delivery system, into a single solution to produce proteins inside
the human body. The versatility of the STARR Technology
enables it upon delivery into the cell to generate a protective
immune response or drive therapeutic protein expression to
potentially prevent against or treat a variety of diseases. The
self-replicating RNA-based prophylactic vaccine triggers rapid and
prolonged antigen expression within host cells resulting in
protective immunity against infectious pathogens. This combination
of the LUNAR and STARR technologies are expected to
deliver prolonged antigen expression and stronger immune responses
compared to conventional mRNA-based vaccines.
Arcturus’ state-of-the-art STARR platform
combines self-amplifying mRNA (sa-mRNA) with LUNAR, a leading
nanoparticle delivery system. The sa-mRNA technology triggers rapid
and prolonged antigen expression, promoting protective immunity
against infectious pathogens at lower doses compared to
first-generation mRNA vaccines. Distinct from standard mRNA
vaccines, sa-mRNA vaccines instruct the target cell to make more
mRNA resulting in prolonged antigen expression and stronger immune
responses.
Forward Looking StatementsThis
press release contains express or implied forward-looking
statements that are based on our management's belief and
assumptions and on information currently available to our
management. Forward-looking statements in this press release
include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the timing of
the Company’s clinical and translational data updates and the
Company’s beliefs about recent data updates, and expectations
related to the Company’s operating expenses and capital expense
requirements. Although we believe that the expectations reflected
in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these
statements relate to future events or our future operational or
financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results,
performance, or achievements to be materially different from any
future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by
these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in
this press release represent our views as of the date of this press
release. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will
cause our views to change. However, while we may elect to update
these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we
have no current intention of doing so except to the extent required
by applicable law. You should therefore not rely on these
forward-looking statements as representing our views as of any date
subsequent to the date of this press release.
For further information, please contact:
Investors:Meru AdvisorsLee M.
Sternlstern@meruadvisors.com
Media:ICR ConsiliumSukaina Virji, Tracy Cheung,
Dylan Wilks+44 (0) 203 709 5000achillestx@consilium-comms.com
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