Affimed N.V. (Nasdaq: AFMD) (“Affimed”, or the “Company”), a
clinical-stage immuno-oncology company committed to giving patients
back their innate ability to fight cancer, today presented a poster
at the annual meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer
(SITC), indicating the Company’s ICE® improves cytotoxicity of NK
and CAR-NK cells and that NK cells redirected by ICE® exhibit at
least the same efficacy against tumor cells as CAR-NK cells alone
or redirected by the ICE®. The results emerged from a collaboration
with the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology (IZI)
in Leipzig, Germany.
“This is the first direct comparison of NK cells redirected by
Affimed’s ICE® with CAR-NK cells,” said Dr. Arndt Schottelius,
Chief Scientific Officer at Affimed. “It is exciting to see that
the combination of NK cells with ICE® exhibits an anti-tumoral
efficacy which is at least comparable to that of CAR-NK cells. The
combination of allogeneic NK cells with ICE® molecules represents
the most straightforward way to generate potent and targeted NK
cells. This suggests high flexibility and cost-effective
manufacturing as there is no additional engineering of NK cells
required.”
To compare approaches, the preclinical efficacy of NK cells
combined with a tetravalent bispecific CD16A/CD19-targeting ICE®
against CD19-positive tumor cells was compared to the efficacy of
anti-CD19 CAR-NK cells alone or in combination with the ICE®.
Cytotoxic activation was assessed by calcein-release assays,
degranulation, cytokine secretion, and specific CD19-positive
target cell killing.
The combination of the ICE® molecule with NK cells or CAR-NK
cells enhanced antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC)
against tumor cells and mediated elevated levels of degranulation
when compared to NK cells or CAR-NK cells alone.
In conclusion, the combination of NK cells with ICE® represents
a straight-forward way to potently target and activate NK
cells.
Details of the poster presentation are as follows:
Title: Redirecting NK cell cytotoxicity by
Innate Cell Engagers: A differentiated and innovative approach
compared to CAR-NK cellsAuthors: Sonya Ioana
Ciulean, Julia Uhlig, Christian Breunig, Thea Eichenberg, Joe
Fischer, Michael Albers, Jan Schmollinger, Jens Pahl, Ivica Fucek,
Christoph Bach, Paul Franz, Anna Dünkel, Stephan Fricke, Thomas
Grunwald, Ulrike Köhl, Joachim KochAbstract
Number: 329Poster Presentation
Time: Friday, Nov. 3, 2023, 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. and
5:10 – 6:40 p.m. Pacific Daylight
TimeLocation: Exhibit Halls A and B1 – San
Diego Convention Center
Please find a link to the abstract on the SITC website: Home -
SITC 2023 (sitcancer.org)
About Affimed N.V.
Affimed (Nasdaq: AFMD) is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology
company committed to giving patients back their innate ability to
fight cancer by actualizing the untapped potential of the innate
immune system. The Company’s proprietary ROCK® platform enables a
tumor-targeted approach to recognize and kill a range of
hematologic and solid tumors, enabling a broad pipeline of
wholly-owned and partnered single agent and combination therapy
programs. The ROCK® platform predictably generates customized
innate cell engager (ICE®) molecules, which use patients’ immune
cells to destroy tumor cells. This innovative approach enabled
Affimed to become the first company with a clinical-stage ICE®.
Headquartered in Mannheim, Germany, with offices in New York, NY,
Affimed is led by an experienced team of biotechnology and
pharmaceutical leaders united by a bold vision to stop cancer from
ever derailing patients’ lives. For more about the Company’s
people, pipeline and partners, please visit: www.affimed.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. All
statements other than statements of historical fact are
forward-looking statements, which are often indicated by terms such
as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “goal,”
“intend,” “look forward to,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,”
“project,” “should,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions.
Forward-looking statements appear in a number of places throughout
this release and include statements regarding the Company’s
intentions, beliefs, projections, outlook, analyses and current
expectations concerning, among other things, the potential of
AFM13, AFM24, AFM28 and the Company’s other product candidates, the
value of its ROCK® platform, its ongoing and planned preclinical
development and clinical trials, its collaborations and development
of its products in combination with other therapies, the timing of
and its ability to make regulatory filings and obtain and maintain
regulatory approvals for its product candidates, its intellectual
property position, its collaboration activities, its ability to
develop commercial functions, clinical trial data, its results of
operations, cash needs, financial condition, liquidity, prospects,
future transactions, growth and strategies, the industry in which
it operates, the macroeconomic trends that may affect the industry
or the Company, such as the instability in the banking sector
experienced in the first quarter of 2023, impacts of the COVID-19
pandemic, the benefits to Affimed of orphan drug designation, the
impact on its business by political events, war, terrorism,
business interruptions and other geopolitical events and
uncertainties, such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the fact that
the current clinical data of AFM13 in combination with NK cell
therapy is based on AFM13 precomplexed with fresh allogeneic cord
blood-derived NK cells from The University of Texas MD Anderson
Cancer Center, as opposed to Artiva’s AB-101 and other
uncertainties and factors described under the heading “Risk
Factors” in Affimed’s filings with the SEC. Given these risks,
uncertainties, and other factors, you should not place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements, and the Company
assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements,
even if new information becomes available in the future.
Investor Relations Contact
Alexander FudukidisDirector, Investor
RelationsE-Mail: a.fudukidis@affimed.comTel.: +1 (917) 436-8102
Media Contact
Mary Beth Sandin Vice President, Marketing and
CommunicationsE-Mail: m.sandin@affimed.com
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