Elicio Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ELTX) Makes Strides In Growing Cancer Vaccination Industry

Founded in 2011, Elicio Therapeutics Inc. ELTX has made several significant strides in the last 13 years. The immunotherapy company has completed multiple successful preclinical trials and has been featured in publications like Nature Medicine and Cancer Immunology Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). With promising potential treatments in its pipeline, Elicio Therapeutics' future seems even brighter than the achievements it made in its past. 

AMP Platform For Cancer Immunotherapies 

Elicio Therapeutics is working to re-engineer the body's immune response to defeat cancer and infectious diseases with potent lymph node-targeted immunotherapies and vaccines. This approach differentiates Elicio from its competitors and could be highly promising for enhancing anti-tumor immune responses and improving therapeutic efficacy. 

Elicio's proprietary Amphiphile or "AMP" platform is being used in the development of cancer immunotherapies for patients facing limited treatment options and often poor outcomes. The platform combines expertise in materials science and immunology to develop novel immunotherapies, including cell therapy activators, immunomodulators, adjuvants and vaccines for an array of aggressive cancers and infectious diseases.

Key immune cells are located in the lymph nodes – critical sites that are not engaged by conventional immunotherapies. AMP is built for targeted delivery of payloads to the lymph nodes, guiding the payloads into the lymphatics. This approach is intended to harness the natural ability of the lymph nodes to enhance the magnitude, potency and durability of immune responses to drive antitumor activity. 

Through this platform, Elicio Therapeutics has developed an innovative pipeline of cancer immunotherapies with the potential to address critical unmet needs, with three vaccine candidates currently in its pipeline: ELI-002, ELI-007 and ELI-008. 

ELI-002 is Elicio's lead investigational asset, targeting Kirsten rat sarcoma (KRAS) driven cancers caused by a mutation of the KRAS gene designed to stimulate an immune response against the seven KRAS mutations driving 25% of solid tumors. 

While early mKRAS-targeting efforts in the clinical setting show promise, there remains a considerable unmet need for the development of effective therapies. Many traditional vaccines and immunotherapies do not target the lymph nodes. Small molecule-based immunomodulators easily pass through the blood vessel walls at the injection site. As a result, they are rapidly flushed away into the systemic circulation, limiting access to the lymph nodes. Often, this results in a failure to realize the full potential of the immune response. Worse yet, it can lead to the development of dangerous toxicities at other sites in the body. This is where ELI-002 stands out from previous methods. A structurally novel AMP therapeutic vaccine, ELI-002 is comprised of AMP-modified mutant KRAS peptide antigens and AMP-modified immune-stimulatory oligonucleotide CpG adjuvant. The AMP mKRAS peptides and AMP CpG are targeted to the lymph nodes to enhance the action of key immune cells and educate T cells on how to recognize and eliminate cancer cells.

Early clinical studies have shown encouraging results. In a preliminary phase 1 (AMPLIFY-201) study involving patients with pancreatic and colorectal cancers, the vaccine elicited strong T cell responses, with most patients having reduced tumor biomarkers and some having complete clearance following treatment with ELI-002 monotherapy. 

Increased Awareness Of Cancer Vaccines Is Leading To Market Growth

The global cancer vaccine market size was estimated at $7.31 billion in 2022, Grand View Research reports. It's expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.04% by 2030. With the rising prevalence of cancer and increased awareness about cancer vaccination, the market is growing amid a rise in government funding and investments. 

In January, Elicio presented a Trial in Progress poster on the design of the AMPLIFY-7P trial at the ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, California. The poster describes the phase 1 and randomized phase 2 study of ELI-002 7P, an investigational therapeutic cancer vaccine administered as an adjuvant monotherapy treatment for patients with KRAS-mutated pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma ("PDAC"). In addition, the company announced that the first patient had been dosed as part of the randomized phase 2 (AMPLIFY-7P) study of ELI-002 7P. Initial interim data on ELI-002 7P monotherapy from the phase 1A arm is expected to be shared in the second quarter of 2024, the company said.  

Featured photo by Louis Reed on Unsplash. 

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