Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NASDAQ: PHIO) shares more than doubled on Friday after the firm announced positive data from its cancer study at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2020 Virtual Scientific Program.
The positive data came from in vivo studies that show strong antitumoral efficacy with several of its Intasyl pipeline programs, including PH-762, PH-894 and PH-804.
These results demonstrated that intratumoral delivery of Intasyl compounds inhibited tumor growth by overcoming the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) as shown by changes in T cell composition and activation. As a result, the company believes these pipeline programs show great promise in the treatment of solid tumors.
A series of preclinical in vivo studies in tumor models were conducted and it showed dose-dependent attenuated tumor growth for the Intasyl compounds versus control groups. Relevant changes in the TME include an increase of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, including CD8+ T cells, responsible for tumor cell killing, and an increase of activation markers on these cells.
Together, these novel findings support using Intasyl as a viable approach to immunotherapy and warrant further investigation in patients.
Dr. Simon Fricker, Phio’s vice president of Research, commented:
These exciting new data show that Intasyl compounds are able to overcome the immunosuppressive TME by reprogramming T cells in order to inhibit tumor growth. These data support our belief that Phio’s Intasyl technology can be used to develop powerful immunotherapeutics, which can overcome the shortcomings of currently available systemic immunotherapy. We look forward to continuing our development of Intasyl, including the IND enabling studies which are currently ongoing.
Phio Pharma stock traded up about 107% to $4.62 on Friday, in a 52-week range of $1.60 to $25.30.
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