October 08, 2019 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
AUSTIN, Texas & HAMILTON, Ontario–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Triumvira Immunologics (Triumvira), a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing a novel platform for engineering T-cells to attack cancers, today announced the issuance of key claims in U.S. Patent No. 10435453 entitled “Trifunctional T cell-antigen coupler and methods and uses thereof.” The allowed composition-of-matter claims describe multiple structures used in TAC constructs providing broad protection of the company’s TAC platform.
Triumvira recently announced the clearance of its Investigational New Drug (IND) and Clinical Trial Applications (CTA) by U.S. and Canadian Health Authorities for its novel T cell therapy product TAC01-CD19 in patients with CD19-positive B-cell malignancies. The Phase 1/2 study (TACTIC-19, NCT03880279) is expected to be initiated in late 2019.
“Obtaining intellectual property protection of our TAC platform is a key milestone and confirms that TAC is a well-differentiated technology,” said Dr. Paul Lammers, Triumvira’s President and CEO. “Issuance of our composition of matter claims further strengthens our position as a company pioneering novel engineered T cell approaches as we are bringing this innovative treatment to patients.”
Triumvira’s preclinical data previously revealed unique biological differences of TAC-engineered T cells compared to second-generation CAR-T cells, with TAC-T cells producing greater anti-tumor efficacy and no evidence of toxicity, particularly in models of solid tumors.
About TAC01-CD19
Despite transformational efficacy with existing approved Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells (CAR-T), a significant unmet need remains due to substantial CAR-T toxicities and limited tumor types where CAR-T is effective. Triumvira is developing a proprietary T Cell Antigen Coupler (TAC) technology platform which is biologically distinct from CAR-T. The first of the company’s pipeline product candidates, TAC01-CD19, is a novel T cell therapy product targeting CD19 for use in B-cell malignancies. The product comprises patient-derived T cells that have been genetically engineered to express the CD19 T cell Antigen Coupler (TAC). Preclinical data suggest that TAC01-CD19 has the potential for being highly efficacious with minimal side effects in hematological malignancies.