Gothenburg, May 28, 2025 - Elicera Therapeutics AB (publ), a clinical stage cell and gene therapy company developing next generation cancer treatments based on its proprietary commercial technology platform iTANK, today announces that it has entered into a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) with University Hospital Tübingen in Germany. Under the agreement, the company's oncolytic virus candidates ELC-100 and ELC-201 will be included in tests aimed at developing a new type of companion diagnostic to predict the potential success of a novel neuroendocrine neoplasm (NEN) therapy, immuno-virotherapy.
Immuno-virotherapy (IV) represents an innovative treatment modality for neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs). IV combines intratumoral administration of oncolytic viruses (OVs) with intravenous administration of an anti-PD1 immune checkpoint inhibitor. For IV to be effective, it is a strict prerequisite that NEN patients' tumor cells (i) are permissive to OV infection, (ii) support massive OV replication in the infected tumor cells, and (iii) that the OV infection leads to OV-induced destruction (oncolysis) of the NEN cells. If these three conditions are not met, the OV + anti-PD1 combination strategy will not succeed.
According to Elicera's MTA with University Hospital Tübingen, the hospital, under the leadership of Professor Ulrich M. Lauer and Dr. Linus Kloker, will receive access to ELC-100 and ELC-201 to conduct testing aimed at developing a new type of companion diagnostic. The purpose of this diagnostic is to predict the potential success of immuno-virotherapy before initiating treatment with this new combination for NEN. Tests will also be conducted on other oncolytic viruses, including the market-approved IMLYGIC (AMGEN).
"There is a clear scientific rationale for combining oncolytic viruses with anti-PD1 immune checkpoint inhibitors. Participating in this project gives us a valuable opportunity to contribute our oncolytic viruses while gathering important data on their activity in fresh tumor tissue. We see a strong health-economic value in developing methods to identify which patients are most likely to respond to treatment - something particularly relevant in a heterogeneous disease group like NEN. Our participation is not only a way to strengthen our own knowledge base, but also a contribution to accelerating the development of new and more precise therapies for this patient population", says Jamal El-Mosleh, CEO of Elicera Therapeutics.
"The advancement of precision medicine depends on effectively linking research progress with clinical needs. Identifying the right treatment for the right patient requires close collaboration between academia, healthcare, and the innovative life science industry. This project is a concrete example of how we can take important steps together toward more individualized and effective cancer care, where advanced diagnostics and targeted therapies go hand in hand", says Dr. and Professor Ulrich M. Lauer, University Hospital Tübingen.
For further information, please contact:
Jamal El-Mosleh, CEO, Elicera Therapeutics AB (publ)
Phone: +46 (0) 703 31 90 51
jamal.elmosleh@elicera.com
Certified Advisor
Mangold Fondkommission AB
About ELC-100
Elicera's oncolytic virus therapy ELC-100 is a genetically modified virus capable of selectively infecting, replicating in, and killing neuroendocrine cancer cells without harming healthy cells. The company's ongoing dose-escalation clinical trial (Phase I/IIa) is fully funded by the VictoryNET-Foundation and is expected to report final data by mid-2025.
About ELC-201
ELC-201 is a next-generation oncolytic virus genetically engineered with the company's proprietary immune-enhancing platform technology, iTANK, and the immunostimulatory factor 4-1BBL, both of which strongly activate the patient's endogenous cytotoxic T cells, enabling a broad, parallel attack on cancer. ELC-201 is applicable for treatment of most cancer types.
About the iTANK platform
The iTANK technology platform has been developed for arming and enhancing CAR T-cells to meet two of the major challenges CAR T-cell therapies face in the treatment of solid tumors: a very diverse set of tumor antigen targets and a very hostile tumor microenvironment. The technology is used to incorporate a transgene into CAR T-cells encoding a neutrophil activating bacterial protein (NAP). NAP secreted from the CAR(NAP) T-cells has been shown to be able to enhance the function of CAR T-cells and importantly activating a parallel bystander immune response against the cancer via CD8+ killer T-cells. This is expected to lead to a broad attack against most antigen targets on cancer cells. The iTANK platform is used to enhance the company's own CAR T-cells but can also be universally applied to other CAR T-cell therapies under development. Proof-of-concept data was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering in April 2022. The publication, titled "CAR T cells expressing a bacterial virulence factor triggers potent bystander antitumor responses in solid cancers" (DOI number: 10.1038/s41551-022-00875-5) can be found here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-022-00875-5. More information about iTANK platform is available here: https://www.elicera.com/technology
About Elicera Therapeutics AB
Elicera Therapeutics AB (publ) has developed the patented gene technology platform iTANK that enables the arming of new and existing CAR T-cell therapies targeting aggressive and relapsing cancer forms. Elicera Therapeutics thereby addresses a well-defined and vast market. The company's CAR T-cell therapies have shown a potent effect toward solid tumors which are recognized as particularly difficult to treat and constitute the majority of cancer cases. The company addresses a global multibillion market in cell therapy through its offering of non-exclusive licensing of the iTANK-platform to companies in the pharmaceutical industry. Elicera Therapeutics has four internal development projects in immune therapy that separately have the potential to generate substantial value through exclusive out-licensing agreements. The company's share is traded on Nasdaq First North Growth Market. For additional information, visit www.elicera.com.
