Lycera Corp. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of breakthrough drugs to address cancer and autoimmune diseases. The firm recently announced that very promising data related to the activity of an anti-tumoral RORgamma agonist candidate will be presented during the 2015 Keystone Symposia Conference, which will take place in Banff, Canada.
At the conference, the results led by Jacques Moisan, Associate Director of Lycera, will be presented in a poster titled “Novel oral RORgamma agonists demonstrate anti-tumor efficacy in the 4T1 breast cancer model.”
The study shows that the company’s RORgamma agonists have the ability to reprogram T cells and enhance their activity and their capacity to survive, allowing them to resist tumors’ immunosuppressive mechanisms that can impose limits to the efficacy of cancer immunotherapies. RORgamma agonists used in pre-clinical in vivo models resulted in a decreased growth of 4T1 mammary carcinoma, a type of cancer that is commonly resistant to immunotherapy. Further, adoptive cell therapy effectiveness increased in models where RORgamma agonists were present. Researchers concluded that these types of agonists have several anti-tumoral activities in a single therapeutic.
“We are very pleased with the growing recognition of our program advancing small molecule RORgamma agonists that are designed to both decrease immune suppression, as with checkpoint inhibitors, as well as increase immune activity. In addition to demonstrating an ability to help mediate potent, durable anti-tumor responses, the currently reported research also showed that Lycera’s RORgamma agonists have drug-like oral pharmacokinetic properties, as well as the ability to stimulate differentiation of multiple classes of T cells with key roles in targeting and attacking tumors. I look forward to the continued, successful progress of this program,” said Gary Glick, founder of Lycera and Chief Scientific Officer.
“Lycera’s teams, possessing world-class immunology research experience, have achieved rapid progress in the Company’s RORgamma agonism program, which is expected to enter IND-enabling studies this quarter. Based on this momentum, we are targeting first-in-man clinical studies of this novel and promising approach to immuno-oncology by the end of 2015,” added Mr. Paul Sekhri, Lycera’s Chief Executive Officer and President.
