GENE ONLINE|News &
Opinion
Blog

2020-09-21| R&D

Another Pharmaceutical Giant Enters the Field of CD47

by GeneOnline
Share To

On September 8, 2020, Pfizer made a US$25 million equity investment in Trillium Therapeutics. However, Pfizer’s investment has nothing to do with any partners or pre-emptive rights acquired by Trillium Therapeutics, and these options remain open. So, what assets are attracting Pfizer?

CD47 is a glycoprotein widely expressed on the surface of a variety of cells. It releases a “don’t eat me” signal by connecting with SIRPα on phagocytes’ surface to prevent macrophages from engulfing healthy cells. However, cancer cells cunningly use this mechanism to induce immunosuppression and escape the phagocytosis of macrophages. In recent years, CD47 has gradually become a star target in immuno-oncology, and investment in this field has also shown substantial growth.

Pfizer’s Talzenna approved for breast cancer treatment

Trillium Therapeutics is a Canada-based immuno-oncology company dedicated to developing innovative immunotherapies to treat cancer. The company’s clinical projects TTI-621 and TTI-622 are two unique SIRPαFc decoy receptors that can target CD47 and block its activity.

TTI-622 is a SIRPa-IgG4-Fc fusion protein, similar to I-Mab’s candidate drug, it has very weak binding to normal red blood cells and does not cause hemagglutination. Current data show that in patients with relapsed/refractory DLBCL who have previously received multiple therapies, TTI-622 has achieved “comparable” results in a joint study with the highest dose of competing products. Simultaneously, the research results also show that “not all IgG4 are equal”, because Xinji terminated its phase I study of its IgG4-CD47 molecule CC-90002 two years ago. The data of TTI-622 is better than analysts expected. However, using solid single-drug data as a basis makes managers more confident that their drugs will perform better in the combination.

TTI-621 is a SIRPa-IgG1-Fc fusion protein characterized by a very low dose to achieve significant results. Now, the 1.4 mg/kg dose has been considered to be well tolerated in patients with advanced relapsed/refractory hematological cancers.

Trillium Therapeutics plans to continue to evaluate these two projects. Ultimately, the company plans to enter the solid tumor field, and its CEO Jan Skvarka said that Pfizer is very interested in this field.

With the revival of interest in CD47 in the pharmaceutical industry, innovative therapies for the CD47-SIRPα pathway are expected to become another fertile new world in tumor immunity.

Related Article: Abbvie Places $2 Billion Bet on Flourishing Immunotherapy Area with this Oncology Partnership

Partner Article, By James Hou, Ph.D.

 

©www.geneonline.com All rights reserved. Collaborate with us: service@geneonlineasia.com
Related Post
GeneOnline’s Pick – Top 10 Global Industry News Stories in 2023 (Part 2)
2024-01-15
JPM 2024: Pfizer’s Strategic Moves in the Obesity Drug Market and BioNTech’s Oncology Pipeline Expansion
2024-01-10
GeneOnline’s Pick: Top 10 Global Industry News Stories in 2023 (Part 1)
2024-01-08
LATEST
Previewing AACR 2024 With Select Pre-Meeting Highlights
2024-03-28
Roche Delivering on Malaria Screening Solutions for Blood Donation
2024-03-28
Innovating Cancer Treatment: The Role of ADC Technology at Nona Biosciences
2024-03-28
BIO CHINA 2024 Brings Biotech Experts and Industry Elites Together for Innovation
2024-03-27
Galderma’s Strong European IPO Debut
2024-03-26
Markets and Mergers: Boston Scientific and Axonics Shake Hands on Deal
2024-03-25
Discover the Next Billion-Dollar Unicorn at the Biotech Innovation Funding Networking Event
2024-03-21
EVENT
2024-04-06
Biotech Innovation Funding Networking
Los Angeles, USA
Scroll to Top