Cantargia presents new positive preclinical data on antibody CAN04 at major antibody conference

Cantargia AB (publ) today announce that new preclinical data on the antibody CAN04 (nidanilimab) will be presented at the scientific conference Antibody Engineering and Therapeutics in San Diego Dec 9-13, 2018. CAN04 is in clinical development for cancer therapy and targets interleukin 1 receptor accessory protein, IL1RAP, positive single agent clinical data was recently presented at ESMO. The new results give further support for an important role of CAN04 also in combination with chemotherapy and provide new insights into the advantages of targeting IL1RAP as a treatment strategy in non-small cell lung cancer, NSCLC.

Cantargia is developing the antibody CAN04 for treatment of cancer. CAN04 is investigated in the CANFOUR phase I/IIa clinical trial and is entering the phase IIa part of that study. The trial is primarily focused on treatment of NSCLC and pancreatic cancer. CAN04 is directed against IL1RAP which is found on tumor cells from a large number of cancer forms including NSCLC. IL1RAP is also found on inflammatory immune cells contributing to the cancer progression. Positive phase I interim data in heavily pretreated patients was presented in October 2018 at ESMO, showing good safety, effects on relevant biomarkers and stable disease in 38 % of patients.

CAN04 blocks the signaling induced by both IL-1α and IL-1β. Both forms of IL-1 have a role in cancer progression and resistance against various cancer therapies. The new results show that both IL-1α and IL-1β is expressed in tumors from patients with NSCLC, supporting CAN04 therapy to counteract tumor progression and have advantages compared to antibodies against only one of the different forms of IL-1.

Cantargia has previously reported that CAN04 combined with the chemotherapy cisplatin generate synergistic effects in a PDX model of NSCLC. Cantargia now also reports data from mice with a fully functional immune system using the MC38 model. The advantage of this model is that effects on the immune system can be studied in addition to effects on the cancer cells themselves. In this setting, the combination has an even stronger effect, strengthening the relevance of CAN04 to target the cancer cells as well as the whole tumor microenvironment and CAN04 as a treatment that can block resistance mechanisms in the tumor.

The new data will be presented as a poster presentation December 10 as well as in a later oral presentation by Dr David Liberg, VP Cancer Research at Cantargia. In addition to the presentation of new data, Cantargia’s CEO Dr Göran Forsberg has been invited to give a talk entitled “IL1RAP as a therapeutic target” December 11.

”The novel results presented give further scientific support for our development strategy of CAN04 in NSCLC. Two presentations at this major conference confirms the interest in our technology and increase Cantargia’s international exposure,” said Göran Forsberg, CEO of Cantargia.

The poster presentation is available at www.cantargia.com.

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

This constitutes information that Cantargia AB is required to publish under the EU’s Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication through the above contact person on December 10, 2018, at 08:30.

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.