Achilles Therapeutics Reports Interim Phase I/IIa Results for Clonal Neoantigen T Cells in NSCLC and Melanoma with Enhanced Conditioning

April 4, 2024 — Achilles Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ: ACHL) has reported interim Phase I/IIa clinical trial data for clonal neoantigen reactive T cells (cNeT) from the CHIRON study for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and the THETIS study for malignant melanoma. The company has enhanced the VELOS™ manufacturing process to deliver higher cNeT doses and updated protocols to assess the benefits of improved host conditioning. Data from the first three patients in CHIRON and THETIS who received enhanced host chemo-conditioning along with IL-2 aligned to standard TIL therapy demonstrated improved cNeT persistence and engraftment.
Since the last update in December 2022, 18 patients have been dosed across the CHIRON and THETIS studies. A new Cohort C has been added to evaluate the impact of enhanced host conditioning on cNeT engraftment and persistence beyond 28 days. All participants were late-stage, checkpoint refractory patients with progressive disease at the time of lymphodepletion, and the tolerability profiles were favorable and comparable to standard TIL therapy.
Achilles Therapeutics has made significant progress in optimizing the VELOS manufacturing process, with a median of 172 million cNeT dosed across the eighteen patients in the update, a substantial increase from the 18 million cNeT in the December 2022 update. The company plans to report a meaningful data update in the second half of 2024 after evaluating cNeT persistence and clinical activity in patients with enhanced host conditioning.
Dr. Iraj Ali, CEO of Achilles Therapeutics, highlighted the encouraging safety, tolerability, and translational science data from checkpoint refractory patients, which provide important insights into the factors driving durable T cell engraftment and the impact of immune evasion mechanisms. Dr. Karl Peggs, Chief Medical Officer, noted the introduction of Cohort C to extend the duration of engraftment and prolong the early significant peaks of cNeT seen in the blood of these patients. Dr. Sergio Quezada, Chief Scientific Officer, added that emerging translational data from the three patients dosed with the enhanced conditioning showed improved cNeT engraftment levels and persistence.
Achilles Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing AI-powered precision T cell therapies targeting clonal neoantigens to treat solid tumors. The company uses DNA sequencing data from each patient, along with its proprietary PELEUS™ bioinformatics platform, to identify clonal neoantigens specific to that patient and develop precision T cell-based product candidates specifically targeting those clonal neoantigens.

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