Poolbeg Pharma (POLB) , a clinical-stage biopharma company focused on infectious diseases, detailed key insights from its poster presentation at the ongoing 65th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Diego.
The poster detailed Poolbeg's flagship POLB 001 anti-inflammatory candidate as a potential therapy for Cytokine Release Syndrome (CRS) associated with cancer immunotherapies. It was presented by Dr Emma Searle from The Christie Hospital, Manchester, UK, on December 9.
CRS is an often encountered side effect of CAR T-cell cancer therapies that causes potentially life-threatening hyperinflammation. CRS is also associated with severe influenza. Poolbeg provided insight into results obtained from the POLB 001 LPS human challenge trial, highlighting its potential use in the treatment of CRS.
Specifically, the POLB 001 LPS human challenge trial demonstrated good safety and tolerability, a clear dose-response relationship, inhibition of p38 MAPK activation, and a reduction in all measured pro-inflammatory cytokines. Poolbeg clarified that the effects observed were a negation of immune over-reaction rather than an ablation of core immune function. Phase 2 trial activities are currently underway, with strong interest from potential pharma partners.
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Poolbeg's presentation at ASH represents further validation of POLB 001's potential in addressing CRS in oncology. The ASH Annual Meeting is recognised as the world's premier conference focusing on hematological malignancies (blood cancers), bringing together 25,000 industry and academic attendees each year to share the latest advances in clinical care.
CRS is a well-recognised toxicity that occurs frequently following certain cancer treatments such as T-cell engaging antibodies and CAR T cell therapies. In addition to patient mortality and morbidity risk, the high frequency of CRS associated with these treatments represents a barrier to outpatient delivery. The need for in-patient management of CRS adds to the overall healthcare costs of delivering these treatments and contributes to restricting their availability.
The field of cancer immunotherapies is rapidly growing and expected to reach US$100bn by 2030. CRS is a significant obstacle to the delivery of potentially lifesaving therapies, explaining the strong interest in POLB 001 from pharma companies seeking an effective and orally administrable solution to CRS. Poolbeg's participation at ASH has furthered those discussions.
Positive results from the POLB 001 LPS challenge trial highlighted that oral treatment of POLB 001 holds substantial promise in tackling CRS. Delivering an effective oral drug for CRS will be a significant value inflection point for Poolbeg.
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