Tessa Therapeutics, in Collaboration with Baylor College of Medicine, Presents Preclinical Results Showing Enhanced T Cell Responses Against HER2-Positive Solid Tumors Using Novel Combination CAR T Cell Therapy

Preclinical,'proof-of-concept' results for a novel 'all-in-one' immunotherapy for the treatment of Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2)-positive solid tumors

The preclinical findings support the advancement of this multimodal immunotherapy into a Phase I clinical trial

SINGAPORE,April 30,2019 -- Tessa Therapeutics,a clinical-stage cell therapy company focused on autologous and allogeneic therapies for a wide range of cancers,today announced 'proof-of-concept' data from the preclinical study of TT16,a first-of-its-kind combination immunotherapy that integrates Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell therapy and oncolytic adenovirus expressing immunomodulatory molecules for the treatment of Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2)-positive solid tumors.

The results of the preclinical study,a collaboration between Tessa Therapeutics and Baylor College of Medicine,were presented today at the 2019 American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT) Annual Meeting in Washington,D.C.

"The preclinical data presented today demonstrates the feasibility of combining CAR T cell therapy with other immunotherapy agents to overcome the challenges of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and enhance the T cells' anti-tumor activity against HER2-positive cancer cells," said Dr. Ivan D. Horak,M.D.,President of Research and Development,Tessa Therapeutics. "These results support our plans to further develop this next-generation product candidate. We look forward to progressing the therapy into a Phase I clinical trial for patients with HER2-positive solid tumors."

In the preclinical study,HER2-specific CAR T anti-tumor activity was evaluated in HER2-positive human solid tumor animal models. The therapy consists of a two-step process,in which the models were first injected with a binary oncolytic adenovirus (CAd) followed by the infusion of HER2-CAR T cells.

The combination therapy showed durable responses in the various tumor models. Furthermore,CAd secreting PD-L1 blocking antibody and activation cytokine IL-12p70 improved the persistence and activity of the HER2-CAR T cells even in advanced disease models showing metastasis similar to those seen in patients.

The data also demonstrates that local treatment of this 'all-in-one' therapy can systemically enhance the responses of HER2-CAR T cells against HER2-positive cancer cells.

The abstract,titled "Combination Local Oncolytic Adenoimmunotherapy and Systemic CAR-T Cell Therapies for Advanced Solid Tumor Treatment" can be found on the ASGCT meeting website at http://50.23.255.131/clients/schedule_pdfs/1866/mediaid_183.pdf.

About Tessa Therapeutics

Tessa Therapeutics is a clinical-stage cell therapy company focused on the development of autologous and off-the-shelf,allogeneic therapies targeting a wide range of cancers. Tessa's Virus-Specific T cell (VST) platform harnesses the body's potent anti-viral immune response and has shown early efficacy and a strong safety profile in the treatment of solid tumors.

Tessa is building a portfolio of innovative,next-generation therapies by combining VSTs with other immuno-oncology approaches. This portfolio includes a rapidly growing pipeline of clinical and pre-clinical autologous programs that target a wide range of cancers,including nasopharyngeal carcinoma,cervical cancer,oropharyngeal cancer,lung cancer,breast cancer,bladder cancer,as well as head and neck cancer. In addition,Tessa is leveraging its platform to develop allogeneic therapies to address Epstein-Barr virus-associated lymphomas and solid tumors.

Tessa has built up robust operational and supply chain capabilities to successfully deliver T cell therapy treatments to a large patient pool worldwide. Together with the Company's academic,clinical,and commercial research partners,Tessa has created a fully-integrated approach to the treatment of cancer with immunotherapy.

For more information on Tessa,please visit www.tessatherapeutics.com.

Tessa Therapeutics Media Contacts

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