Key Highlights:
- Infinitopes’ lead vaccine candidate ITOP1 is a novel, precision targeted “off-the-shelf” cancer vaccine, designed to save lives by preventing disease recurrence in first-line patients with surgically resectable cancers.
- Infinitopes’ proprietary vector delivery system reliably triggers durable T-cell protection, which halted or delayed tumour progression in industry standard preclinical mouse models, without checkpoint inhibitor co-treatment.
- Infinitopes has begun discussions with potential commercial partners seeking vadvanced vectors and targets that enable next generation cancer therapies, and will soon begin reaching out to new investors for its Series A round.
Infinitopes, an integrated cancer biotech combining platforms in precision antigen discovery with vaccine vectors capable of durably stimulating protective immune responses, announced that it will be presenting three posters on its cancer vaccine discovery and development. One of which (Abstract Two) has been recognised as a ‘top 100’ poster presentation at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 2024, held in Houston, US, from 6-10 November.
A spinout from Oxford University, supported by Cancer Research UK (CRUK), Infinitopes announced its oversubscribed £12.8 million seed financing in April 2024, to advance its AI/ML Precision Immunomics antigen discovery platform. The company exploits this technology to accurately design highly effective therapeutics for multiple cancer indications. Led by an exceptional Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and team of clinicians, scientists and regulatory leaders, Infinitopes is preparing to commence its lead vaccine candidate ITOP1 in a highly anticipated, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled phase I/IIa clinical trial, starting H1’25, to treat patients with oesophageal cancer (OC). The trial will take place at four NHS cancer centres in the UK.
Jonathan Kwok, chief executive officer & co-founder at Infinitopes, said: “Using our integrated ‘right targets, right vectors, right patients, right time’ approach, we aim to address the unmet clinical need for durably effective, accessible therapies, to save lives by preventing or significantly delaying disease recurrence for cancer patients. We combine our deep knowledge of the field of immunology with our uniquely sensitive AI/ML Precision Immunomics platform to identify and select optimal synergistic tumour targets, alongside engineering safe and effective proprietary vector delivery systems, designed to reliably stimulate lasting T-cell protection.
"With our expert capabilities and highly experienced team, our strategy to win an Innovation & Licensing Access Pathway (ILAP) innovation passport from the UK’s Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has unlocked rapid entry into an ambitious clinical development programme for our lead vaccine candidate, ITOP1. The VISTA study, commencing H1’25, will open to oesophageal cancer patients most likely to positively respond, at the moment of their cancer journey where long-term protection is anticipated to be most likely.”
The three presenting posters are:
Abstract One (635)
‘A randomised, placebo-controlled, multi-centre Phase I/IIa study evaluating the safety and clinical activity of a novel viral vector cancer vaccine (ITOP1) in patients with resectable oesophageal adenocarcinoma (VISTA study)’. It details the overall design and purpose of the Oxford University-led VISTA study, to test Infinitopes’ ITOP1 vaccine in HLA-matched patients undergoing surgery to remove their oesophageal cancers (OC). ITOP1 is an “off-the-shelf” vaccine administered as a prime-boost regimen before and after surgery, to prevent recurrence for patients with OC. OC is the 12th most common type of cancer in the UK, with about 10,000 cases a year.
Due to its poor prognosis, OC is the UK’s sixth most common cause of cancer deaths, claiming around 8,500 lives annually. Surgical resection plus neoadjuvant/adjuvant chemotherapy is the current best standard of care. Even with surgery and chemotherapy, nearly half of patients experience recurrence within a year. ITOP1 aims to change that by boosting immune responses and improving long-term outcomes, with a median disease-free survival of 11 months.
Abstract Two (1039)
‘Vaccination with a single dose of a novel delivery platform confers durable >8 month immune responses, with lasting protection against tumour and metastases in preclinical models’. Earned a spot in SITC’s 'top 100,' this poster details how Infinitopes has developed a foundational, proprietary vector delivery system and confirmed the success of this approach in industry-standard preclinical models. Immunisation with a single priming dose reliably generated durable, antigen-specific immune T-cell protection, capable of halting or significantly delaying tumour progression, without checkpoint inhibitor co-treatment. Up to 80% of mice survived tumour challenge, versus control animals dying within three weeks. Metastases were completely suppressed in multiple models.
Abstract Three (1427)
‘Precision Immunomics: Identification of hundreds of novel cancer antigens using a sensitive immunopeptidomics-led platform’. It details how Infinitopes has used its unique AI/ML Precision Immunomics antigen discovery platform to identify hundreds of novel cancer-specific antigens from primary tumour samples. The abstract explains how this best-in-class pool of therapeutic combination targets could be used to accurately treat tumours, forming the basis for a suite of “off-the-shelf” therapies for many different cancer types. Infinitopes has begun discussions with potential Big Pharma collaboration partners to licence these for use in T-cell, TCR and other modalities, and is excited to progress its own vaccine programme.
Prof. David Curiel, professor of Radiation Oncology and director of the Biologic Therapeutic Centre at Washington University St Louis, commented: “Infinitopes’ systematic approach to cancer vaccine development is making rapid and substantive progress. This week’s findings support acceleration towards clinical development. Infinitopes’ lead candidate ITOP1 represents a significant milestone for the Company, and is a potential treatment paradigm change for the early and effective treatment of future patients with cancerous tumours, beginning with oesophageal cancer.”