Cantargia presents novel preclinical data on antibody CAN04 at PEGS Europe conference

Cantargia AB today announce that new preclinical data on the antibody CAN04 is presented at the 11^th annual PEGS (Protein & Antibody Engineering Summit) Europe conference, Nov 18-22 in Lisbon, Portugal. CAN04 is in clinical development for cancer and is designed to enhance immune-mediated tumor cell killing. The new results show that similar design applied to CAN04 surrogate antibodies enhance antitumor effects in experimental cancer models and further support for the strategy chosen. 

Cantargia develops antibody-based pharmaceuticals against interleukin-1 receptor accessory protein (IL1RAP). The antibody CAN04 binds IL1RAP with high affinity and functions through both Antibody-Dependent Cellular Cytotoxicity (ADCC) and blockade of interleukin 1 signaling. CAN04 is investigated in an open label three-armed phase I/IIa clinical trial, CANFOUR. Two arms investigate safety and efficacy of CAN04 in combination with two different first line chemotherapy regimes in patients with non-small cell lung cancer or pancreatic cancer (NCT03267316, www.clinicaltrials.gov). A third arm investigates safety and biomarkers of CAN04 monotherapy in patients with late stage disease. One additional trial, investigating CAN04 with an immune checkpoint inhibitor is planned to start early 2020.

Cantargia has previously presented anti-tumour effects in mice using surrogate antibodies of CAN04. So far, these data have been generated using non-modified antibody constructs. CAN04 is however an ADCC-enhanced antibody lacking fucose produced by the Potelligent® technology. The new results show that similar modifications can be introduced in mouse surrogate antibodies. Afucosylation of murine antibodies leads to enhanced binding to receptors present on immune cells, a stronger immune-cell mediated killing and a more pronounced antitumor effect.

The PEGS conference is a key annual conference around novel antibody designs and strategies for development. The poster entitled “Glycoengineered Murine Antibodies as Surrogates to the Humanized and ADCC-enhanced Anti-IL1RAP Antibody CAN04 (nidanilimab)” is presented by Dr Camilla Rydberg Millrud, and Dr David Liberg. The poster can be downloaded at www.cantargia.com.

“These novel results give further evidence that the strategy to include ADCC-enhancement is of importance and increase our confidence in CAN04”, Göran Forsberg, Cantargia’s CEO says.

For further information, please contact
Göran Forsberg, CEO
Telephone: +46 (0)46-275 62 60
E-mail: goran.forsberg@cantargia.com

This is information that Cantargia AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 08.30 CET on 18 November 2019.

About Cantargia
Cantargia AB (publ), reg. no. 556791-6019, is a biotechnology company that develops antibody-based treatments for life-threatening diseases. The basis for this is the protein IL1RAP that is involved in a number of diseases and where Cantargia has established a platform. The main project, the antibody CAN04 (nidanilimab) is being studied in the clinical phase I/IIa CANFOUR with a primary focus on non-small cell lung cancer and pancreatic cancer. The study is conducting both monotherapy and combination therapy. Cantargia's other project, CANxx, is in the research phase and is aiming to develop a IL1RAP binding antibody optimised for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Cantargia is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (ticker: CANTA). More information about Cantargia is available at http://www.cantargia.com.

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