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EpiBiologics Presents First Data on c-Met Degrading Bispecific Antibody

via Business Wire

EpiTAC platform can also combine with drug payload delivery to deepen anti-tumor activity and reach broader tumor indications, supporting first-in-class potential

EpiBiologics, a leader in tissue-selective extracellular protein degradation, today presented the first preclinical data on its EpiTAC bispecific antibody degrader of c-Met, a potential first-in-class therapy for a range of cancers driven by mutated, amplified, or overexpressed c-Met signaling. The data, which were presented in a poster at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, show that c-Met degrading EpiTACs demonstrate strong anti-tumor activity in vivo and as ADCs, combining c-Met degradation with payload-dependent cell killing to broaden the clinical opportunity into tumors that are not solely dependent on c-Met signaling for survival.

c-Met is a receptor tyrosine kinase that acts as both a pathogenic driver and disease marker in multiple tumor types, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), gastric cancer, colorectal cancer and renal cancer. While tyrosine kinase inhibitors are approved for tumors with c-Met mutations, targeted therapies for c-Met-amplified or -overexpressed tumors are lacking, hampered by the need for high levels of c-Met expression and variable dependency on c-Met for tumor cell survival and proliferation.

Key highlights of EpiBiologics’ data include:

  • c-Met EpiTACs degraded oncogenic mutant and wildtype forms of c-Met on tumor cells and demonstrated sustained tumor growth suppression in a patient-derived mouse model of NSCLC.
  • Degradation of c-Met resulted in deep anti-tumor activity, driven by the ability of EpiTACs to remove the oncogenic protein and associated scaffolding.
  • Combining targeted protein degradation of c-Met with a cytotoxic ADC payload suppressed tumor growth in c-Met-mutant, c-Met-amplified, and c-Met-overexpressed tumors, potentially broadening the clinical opportunity into tumors that have low c-Met expression and are not solely dependent on c-Met signaling for survival.

“We’re pleased to share data from our c-Met EpiTAC program, confirming our platform’s ability to drive deep and durable degradation with therapeutically relevant impact. These data underscore how we can flexibly tune EpiTACs to have specific characteristics that solve the limitations of current clinical therapies,” said Shyra Gardai, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of EpiBiologics. “Additionally, this dataset showed that there is exciting potential, in certain therapeutic settings, for augmenting our bispecific antibodies with a cytotoxic payload to drive even broader patient benefit.”

“c-Met represents one of several important targets in our pipeline of EpiTAC bispecific antibodies,” said Ann Lee-Karlon, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of EpiBiologics. “As our lead tissue-selective EGFR degrader moves rapidly toward the clinic, we are also advancing EpiTACs for membrane, soluble, and GPCR targets. We have demonstrated strong single-agent activity and can successfully combine with current standards-of-care, paving the way for future therapies.”

The poster, entitled "Discovery of c-MET degrading bispecific antibodies (EpiTACs) for NSCLC and other c-MET driven tumors,” will be available on the company’s website here when presentation concludes.

About EpiBiologics

EpiBiologics is advancing a next-generation protein degradation pipeline and platform that targets membrane and extracellular proteins. EpiBiologics was founded on pioneering work from scientific founder Dr. Jim Wells of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The Company’s proprietary EpiTAC platform is a modular bispecific antibody system that enables targeted degradation of disease-driving membrane and extracellular proteins in a tissue-specific manner. Preclinical anti-tumor data support the innovative EpiTAC approach to extracellular protein degradation as the company advances toward the clinic. Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, EpiBiologics is backed by leading healthcare investors and aims to develop first-in-class and best-in-class targeted therapies across multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology and immunology. For more information, please visit epibiologics.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

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