Oxford’s Accession Therapeutics files to begin phase 1 clinical trials

Accession Therapeutics, which is developing novel immunotherapies targeted at tumour sites and administered systemically, has filed a clinical trial application (CTA) with regulatory agency MHRA.

This will be the first clinical trial showcasing the Oxford firm’s TROCEPT-01 lead programme and will enrol patients with a variety of solid tumour carcinomas, including non-small cell lung, bladder, pancreatic, head and neck, cholangiocarcinoma and endometrial cancers.

TROCEPT-01 encodes an immune checkpoint inhibitor transgene as a payload. Once cancer cells are infected, they will start producing and secreting the drug payload.

Accession Therapeutics says the programme has the potential to expand the indications in which checkpoint inhibitors could be successful and increase clinical response rates through high tumour-localised production of the drug.

The firm held a £25 million raise earlier this year to fund generation of the first clinical data for TROCEPT-01 and to advance its second programme to clinical trial readiness.

Prof Bent Jakobsen, CEO of Accession Therapeutics, said: “We’re delighted that in under three years we’ve taken a programme from research to the clinic, a milestone which is testament to the strength and expertise of the Accession team.

“We hope that clinical data will enable us to show that TROCEPT-01 can be given systemically, while only replicating and producing the drug in cancer cells, which has enormous potential to provide a step-change in treatment for many solid tumour types.

“We have created a highly versatile platform with multiple opportunities to generate value.”