NEW YORK – Elicio Therapeutics said Tuesday that it received a $2.8 million grant from the Gastro-Intestinal Research Foundation in Chicago that it will use to develop two cancer vaccines.
The vaccines are based on Elicio's Amphiphile platform, which programs T cells to target cancer antigens. ELI-007 targets the BRAF V600E gene mutation, and ELI-008 targets p53 hotspot mutations. Both vaccines are in development for solid tumors including colorectal, melanoma, and non-small cell lung cancer.
Approximately 40 percent of melanoma patients, 10 percent of colon cancer patients, and 2 percent of lung cancer patients have BRAF V600E mutations, while p53 mutations are found in about 60 percent of patients with solid tumors.
Elicio's Amphiphile platform targets therapeutics to the lymph nodes, where they activate and amplify T cells with the goal of producing a persistent immunity against disease. The Boston-based company has a number of compounds in clinical development that it advanced using the Amphiphile platform. It is currently conducting a Phase I/II trial (AMPLIFY-201) of its lead compound ELI-002 in patients with KRAS-mutated colorectal cancer or pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
According to Christopher Haqq, an executive VP at Elicio, the development of ELI-007 and ELI-008 marks further advancement of the company's product pipeline after ELI-002. "We have prioritized application of our AMP platform to promote immunity against validated cancer targets like BRAF and p53, so the support from GIRF, which is at the forefront of research in the gastrointestinal space including within oncology, is a great opportunity to work together to improve patient outcomes," Haqq said in a statement.