Benzinga | Dec 10, 2021 08:03AM EST

Candel Therapeutics Announces Collaboration With Partnership For Accelerating Cancer Therapies And The Cancer Immune Monitoring And Analysis Centers Cancer Immunologic Data Commons For Lung Cancer Trial For CAN-2409

* Partnership for Accelerating Cancer Therapies to conduct extensive biomarker analysis for ongoing phase 2 clinical trial in non-small cell lung cancer

* Trial combines CAN-2409 with immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment after inadequate tumor response to initial checkpoint inhibitor therapy

* Collaboration may identify early markers of response and inform patient selection for treatment

NEEDHAM, Mass., Dec. 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Candel Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CADL), a late clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel oncolytic viral immunotherapies, today announced a collaboration with Partnership for Accelerating Cancer Therapies (PACT) and the Cancer Immune Monitoring and Analysis Centers -- Cancer Immunologic Data Commons (CIMAC-CIDC) to profile the biomarker response to a combination of CAN-2409 + valacyclovir in combination with anti-PD-1 and PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Analysis of longitudinal biologic samples from a Candel phase 2 clinical trial will be performed by the CIMAC-CIDC research centers and sponsored by PACT. The assays proposed include in depth immunophenotyping of serial lung biopsies and peripheral blood samples obtained during the clinical trial. Candel's clinical trial in NSCLC is designed to assess the tumor response to CAN-2409 when added to anti-PD-1 or PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment after patients have inadequately responded to ICI with or without chemotherapy. The trial comprises three cohorts; 1) patients whose best response to ICI treatment has been stable disease; 2) patients who have initially responded to ICI treatment, but whose disease is now progressing; and 3) patients who have refractory disease, meaning they are progressing rapidly despite ICI treatment. In each of these settings, minimal to no response is expected from further ICI treatment. The collaboration will analyze samples from each of these cohorts with the aim to identify early biological indicators of response and further stratify potential responders to treatment.

"We have shown that local administration of CAN-2409 monotherapy induces significant remodeling of the tumor immune microenvironment coupled with systemic activation of the immune response," said Francesca Barone, MD, PhD, Vice President and Head of Research at Candel. "We are honored by the selection of our clinical trial by the PACT consortium, which provides an important validation of Candel's approach to embed the highest levels of scientific rigor in our clinical trials. The data generated through this collaboration will broaden our understanding of the biological response to combination therapy of CAN-2409 with ICI, as we endeavor to bring effective new treatment options to patients with cancer."