TRILLIUM THERAPEUTICS RECEIVES FDA CLEARANCE TO PROCEED WITH TTI-621 IN CLINICAL TRIAL TARGETING SOLID TUMORS AND MYCOSIS FUNGOIDES
Toronto, Ontario, August 17, 2016 – Trillium Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIL; TSX: TR), a clinical stage immuno-oncology company developing innovative therapies for the treatment of cancer, announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has provided the company clearance to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial of its lead drug candidate, TTI- 621 (SIRPaFc), in solid tumors and mycosis fungoides. Patient enrollment is anticipated to commence by the end of the year. Trillium is developing TTI-621 as a novel checkpoint inhibitor of the innate immune system, and the drug is currently being evaluated in an ongoing Phase 1 dose escalation study in patients with relapsed or refractory hematologic malignancies.
“The FDA’s acceptance of this IND application is another important milestone for our company, as the study of TTI-621 in select tumor types could lead to a more thorough understanding of its mechanism of action, and may bring us one step closer to a much needed treatment option for patients,” said Dr. Niclas Stiernholm, chief executive officer of Trillium Therapeutics. “We seek to gain insight into the tumor micro-environment before, during and after treatment with TTI- 621. This will help us learn how to best use TTI-621 CD47 blockade in combination with other anti-cancer drugs and better design the commercial development path for this agent.”
In the multicenter, open-label, Phase 1 trial, TTI-621 will be delivered by intratumoral injection in patients with relapsed and refractory, percutaneously-accessible cancers. Patients will be enrolled in sequential dose cohorts to receive intratumoral injections of TTI-621 that increase in dose and dosing frequency to characterize safety, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and preliminary evidence of antitumor activity. In addition, detailed evaluation of serial, on-treatment tumor biopsies of both injected and non-injected cancer lesions will help characterize tumor microenvironment changes anticipated with CD47 blockade.
