The company has progressed to the second dose level in a monotherapy phase 1 clinical trial of TILT-123, a dual cytokine armed oncolytic adenovirus.

The trial is being performed in patients with injectable solid tumors. Patients are being treated at Docrates Cancer Center and Helsinki University Hospital.

“We expect the trial to provide valuable data in multiple solid tumor indications as well as provide supportive data for the future development of TILT-123 in combination with checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T therapies.”

“We are pleased by the clinical progress of TILT despite the recent restrictions caused by the pandemic. With our TILT-T215 melanoma combination trial already up and running in Denmark and France, I’m delighted that our TILT-T115 solid tumor monotherapy trial is now open in Finland, with interim results expected in Q4 2021. We expect the trial to provide valuable data in multiple solid tumor indications as well as provide supportive data for the future development of TILT-123 in combination with checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T therapies,” says TILT Biotherapeutics’ CEO, Akseli Hemminki.

The TILT-T155 trial

The ‘TILT-T115’ clinical trial is a phase 1, open-label, dose-escalation study of the company’s oncolytic adenovirus coding for Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha (TNF alpha) and Interleukin 2 (IL-2), known as TILT-123. A total of approximately 20 patients will receive TILT-123 as a monotherapy over a three-month period. The trial’s primary objective is to evaluate the safety of TILT-123. The T115 trial is also designed to deliver insights about the behavior of TILT-123 in humans, such as systemic tumor transduction following intravenous delivery and virus replication in the tumor, as well as immunological responses.

The heart of TILT’s approach revolves around the use of armed oncolytic adenoviruses, using cytokines to boost the patient’s immune response to better enable it to find and destroy cancer cells, describes the company in a press release.

Image: 3d render of oncolytic adenoviruses destroying tumor cells. Photo: iStock