Benzinga | Dec 14, 2020 06:35AM EST

Synlogic Advances its Cancer Treatment into the Combination Therapy Stage of its Phase 1 Trial

Synlogic, Inc. (NASDAQ:SYBX), a clinical stage company bringing the transformative potential of synthetic biology to medicine, today announced SYNB1891 has advanced into the combination therapy stage of the ongoing Phase 1 trial. SYNB1891 is an investigational drug for the intra-tumoral treatment of solid tumors and lymphoma, composed of an engineered Synthetic Biotic designed to activate the STING pathway in the tumor microenvironment in order to upregulate the patient's immune response.

SYNB1891 is being advanced due to acceptable safety at doses evaluated to date, intratumoral injection feasibility, successful escalation to clinically relevant dose levels, and evidence of target engagement and immune system upregulation.

"Our goal is to bring the benefits of immunotherapy to patients fighting cancer who do not have the option of immunotherapies today," said Aoife Brennan, M.B. Ch.B., Synlogic's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Synlogic is designing Synthetic Biotic medicines that work uniquely inside the tumor microenvironment, boosting the patient's immune response and promoting the body's ability to detect and destroy cancer cells. The interim results of our monotherapy cohorts suggest SYNB1891 is working as designed, upregulating the immune system in the tumor microenvironment via the STING pathway. We are excited to move this study forward."

"The body of data validating our unique approach to immunomodulation with Synthetic Biotic medicines continues to grow," said Dr. Richard Riese, M.D., Synlogic's Chief Medical Officer. "The investigation of SYNB1891 combined with the PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq(r)) is warranted by the encouraging and consistent results we have seen thus far across preclinical models, tumor response, and biomarkers of target engagement. We would like to thank the investigators, patients, and their families who continue to work closely with us as we advance this novel therapy."