Benzinga | May 11, 2021 01:10PM EDT

Phio Pharma's PH-762 Shows Encouraging Antitumor Efficacy In Preclinical Studies

* Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp (NASDAQ: PHIO) stock falls despite the company announcing positive new in vivo data showing that PH-762 significantly enhanced the antitumor efficacy of HER2-targeted CAR-T cells (HER2CART) in solid tumors.

* Compared to untreated, HER2CART cells treated with PH-762 showed statistically significant and durable inhibition of tumor growth.

* The data provided proof-of-concept for the application of PD-1 checkpoint silencing with INTASYL in CAR-T cells before adoptive cell therapy to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of CAR-T cell therapy in solid tumors.

* "The results showed that PH-762 achieved PD-1 silencing efficiency of ~90% in nearly 100% of the HER2CART cells used in this study," stated Dr. Simon Fricker, Phio's VP of Research.

* "In addition, these results are achieved by merely adding PH-762 to the HER2CART cell culture media, without the need for cell delivery vehicles or vectors, and without negative impact on cell growth/survival.

* Price Action: PHIO shares are down 14.1% at $2.19 during the market trading session on the last check Tuesday.