Press Release.
Aleta Biotherapeutics and Cancer Research UK’s Centre for Drug
Development Announce First Patient Dosed in ALETA-001 Phase 1/2 Clinical
Trial in Patients with Relapsed/Refractory B-Cell Malignancies
- The Phase 1/2 clinical trial will evaluate safety, dose, PK/PD, and early efficacy
signals of Aleta’s first-in-class biologic CAR T-Cell Engager, ALETA-001 - ALETA-001 entering the clinic is a critical milestone toward treatment availability to
improve CAR T-cell patient response when a complete response is not achieved or
maintained
NATICK, Mass., and LONDON, UK, February 21, 2024 – Aleta Biotherapeutics (Aleta),
a clinical stage, immuno-oncology company with a CAR T-Cell Engager (CTE) platform
that enables cell cancer therapies to work more effectively, and Cancer Research UK’s
Centre for Drug Development, today announce the first patient was dosed in a Phase 1/2
clinical trial. This trial is evaluating the Company’s first-in-class biologic CAR T-Cell
Engager, ALETA-001, for the treatment of patients with B-cell malignancies who are
relapsed/refractory to CD19-targeting CAR T-cell therapy.
Cancer Research UK’s Centre for Drug Development is sponsoring and conducting the Phase
1/2 clinical trial of ALETA-001, the lead agent in Aleta’s portfolio.
“It is very exciting and meaningful to have ALETA-001 now in the clinic. Clinical
evaluation of ALETA-001 is a key milestone toward a much-needed treatment option for the
many cancer patients whose CD19-targeted CAR T-cell therapies ultimately stop working.
ALETA-001 restores and increases the effectiveness with which CAR T-cells can kill cancer
cells, and we believe that it will enable more patients to successfully benefit from cell
therapies,” stated Dr. Paul Rennert, President and Chief Scientific Officer, Aleta
Biotherapeutics.
The ALETA-001 Phase 1/2 clinical trial is an open-label, dose-expansion trial which will
evaluate safety and tolerability, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic effects, and early
signals of clinical efficacy of ALETA-001 as a single agent. Chief Investigator Dr. Sridhar
Chaganti is leading the trial from University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust in
Birmingham, UK, and will enroll patients who are relapsed/refractory following treatment
with available CD19-targeting CAR T-cell therapies. For more information on this trial,
please visit clinicaltrials.gov (NCT06045910)
Dr. Lars Erwig, Cancer Research UK’s Director of Drug Development, said, “A
significant number of patients with blood cancers unfortunately relapse following CD19-
directed CAR T-cell therapy. ALETA-001 is being developed to provide patients with these
cancers a better chance for a successful treatment outcome. At Cancer Research UK, we are
very excited to study the clinical potential of ALETA-001 to transform a patient’s treatment
journey – which can possibly be lifesaving in many cases.”
“Aleta-001 is a uniquely designed new molecule with a novel mechanism of action, coating
tumor cells densely with the target antigen, thereby stimulating the tumor killing ability of
activated CAR T-cells,” commented Dr. Sridhar Chaganti, Chief Investigator, University
Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK. “This is an important
new strategy being investigated to improve outcomes for patients with relapsed or refractory
lymphomas who experience disease progression after CAR T-cell therapy and have a poor
prognosis.”
About CAR T-Cell Therapy Engager (CTE) ALETA-001
Aleta’s lead clinical stage program, ALETA-001, was designed specifically for the treatment
of B-cell malignancies in patients who have received a CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy
and are at risk of treatment failure. Developed to improve the effectiveness of CD19-directed
CAR T-cell therapies by increasing CD19 antigen density and restoring lost CD19
expression on the cancer cell, ALETA-001 contains the CD19 target protein which is further
linked to an CD20 antibody domain. This allows CD19+/CD20+ cancer cells to be easily
recognized and killed by CD19-directed CAR T-cells that were previously administered and
are already circulating within a patient.
Aleta previously secured landmark clinical support and funding from Cancer Research UK
for the ALETA-001 Phase 1/2 clinical trials, and ALETA-001 has received a UK Innovation
Passport under the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP) from the U.K.
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). ILAP designation is
granted to medicines that address life-threatening or seriously debilitating conditions, and
where there exists a significant patient or public health need.
About Aleta Biotherapeutics
Aleta Biotherapeutics is pioneering a transformation of cancer treatment by enabling CAR Tcell
cancer therapies to work more effectively. The Company’s unique portfolio of multiantigen
CAR T Engagers (CTEs) are simple, potent biologic therapies designed to transform
the expression of cancer tumor cells to match CAR T-cell therapies circulating in patient
blood. These CTEs are being developed to produce deeper and more durable responses in
patients receiving CAR T-cell therapies through increasing cancer target density, and
preventing resistance and escape from therapy, thus increasing the speed and effectiveness
with which CAR T-cells can kill cancer cells.
Aleta’s lead clinical stage biologic, ALETA-001 was designed specifically for the treatment
of B-cell malignancies in patients who have received a CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy
and are at risk of treatment failure. Aleta is further developing its CTE platform technology
to address acute myeloid leukemia, multiple myeloma, and solid tumors including breast
cancer, gastric cancer, and pediatric brain cancers. aletabio.com
About Cancer Research UK’s Centre for Drug Development
Cancer Research UK has an impressive record of developing novel treatments for cancer.
The Cancer Research UK Centre for Drug Development has been pioneering the
development of new cancer treatments for 30 years, taking over 160 potential new anticancer
agents into clinical trials in patients. It currently has a portfolio of over 20 new anticancer
agents in preclinical development, Phase 1, or early Phase 2a clinical trials. Six of
these new agents have made it to market including temozolomide for brain cancer,
abiraterone for prostate cancer and rucaparib for ovarian cancer. 13 other drugs are still
undergoing active development. www.cruk.org.uk/cdd
Contacts:
Media:
Linda Phelan Dyson, MPH
Corporate Communications
+1 973-986-5973
lpdyson@verizon.net
