Poolbeg Pharma (LON:POLB, OTCQB: POLBF), a biopharmaceutical company focussed on the development and commercialisation of innovative medicines targeting diseases with a high unmet medical need and with a lack of treatment alternatives, has announced key insights from its poster presentation at the prestigious, 65th American Society of Hematology (‘ASH’) Annual Meeting and Exposition, San Diego.
The poster, which details POLB 001 as a potential therapy for Cytokine Release Syndrome (‘CRS’) associated with cancer immunotherapies, was presented by Dr Emma Searle from The Christie Hospital, Manchester, UK on Saturday 9 December.
CRS is a well-recognised toxicity that occurs frequently following certain cancer treatments such as T-cell engaging antibodies and CAR T cell therapies. In addition to patient mortality and morbidity risk, the high frequency of CRS associated with these treatments represents a barrier to outpatient delivery. The need for in-patient management of CRS adds to the overall healthcare costs of delivering these treatments and contributes to restricting their availability.
Meanwhile, the POLB 001 LPS human challenge trial conducted by Poolbeg demonstrated good safety and tolerability, a clear dose-response relationship, inhibition of p38 MAPK activation, and a reduction in all measured pro-inflammatory cytokines. The effects observed were a negation of immune over-reaction rather than an ablation of core immune function. Phase II trial enabling activities are underway with strong interest from potential pharma partners.
David Allmond, Chief Business Officer of Poolbeg Pharma, commented: “The field of cancer immunotherapies, including CAR T and bispecific antibodies, is burgeoning and expected to grow to over $100bn by 2030. However, CRS is rate limiting in the delivery of these potentially lifesaving therapies. There is strong interest from pharma partners seeking an effective and convenient (orally administrable) solution to CRS to broaden the utilisation of their breakthrough immunotherapies. Presenting at ASH is strong validation of POLB 001’s potential and we are delighted to have the opportunity to continue our productive partnering discussions at this prestigious conference.”
