AMES, IA--(Marketwired - May 16, 2013) - NewLink Genetics Corporation (NASDAQ: NLNK), an oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company specializing in immunotherapy, today announced that several clinical presentations on its two proprietary platform technologies have been selected for the upcoming 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The meeting will be held May 31 to June 4, 2013 in Chicago, IL. NewLink's HyperAcute technology will be featured in one oral presentation on the company's most advanced drug candidate, algenpantucel-L, in pancreatic cancer, and in one poster presentation on tergenpumatucel-L in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The company's lead small molecule drug candidate, indoximod, which targets the IDO pathway will be highlighted in one poster discussion and one poster presentation involving patients with metastatic solid tumors.

"These clinical presentations describe the potential benefits generated from NewLink's two proprietary immunotherapy platforms: HyperAcute technology products stimulate the human immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells while our IDO pathway products break down the defense mechanisms of cancer cells," commented Charles Link, Jr., MD, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NewLink.

Oral Presentation:

Poster Discussion:

Poster Presentations:

About HyperAcute Immunotherapy

NewLink's HyperAcute immunotherapy platform creates novel biologic products that are designed to stimulate the human immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells. HyperAcute product candidates are composed of human cancer cells that are tumor specific, but not patient specific. These cells have been modified to express alpha-gal, a carbohydrate for which humans have pre-existing immunity. These alpha-gal-modified cells stimulate a rapid and powerful human immune response that trains the body's natural defenses to seek out and destroy cancer cells. The objective of HyperAcute immunotherapies is to elicit an antitumor response by "educating" the immune system to attack a patient's own cancer cells. HyperAcute immunotherapies do not require any tissue from individual patients and use intact whole cells rather than cell fragments or purified proteins. We believe these unique properties of HyperAcute products result in the stimulation of a robust immune response.

NewLink's lead product candidate, algenpantucel-L (HyperAcute pancreas), is being studied in a Phase 3 trial (IMPRESS: "Immunotherapy for Pancreatic Resectable cancer Survival Study") under a Special Protocol Assessment with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This trial involves up to 722 patients with surgically resected pancreatic cancer. Algenpantucel-L is also being tested in a second Phase 3 study (PILLAR: "Pancreatic Immunotherapy with algenpantucel-L for Locally Advanced non-Resectable"), involving patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

NewLink has several HyperAcute product candidates focused on other tumor types in various stages of development, including tergenpumatucel-L, which is in an adaptive design, randomized Phase 2B/3 clinical trial currently accruing up to 240 patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

About IDO pathway inhibition

Link:
NewLink Genetics to Present Data on Cancer Immunotherapy Programs at the ASCO 2013 Annual Meeting

Comments are closed.