Candel Therapeutics to Host NSCLC R&D Panel at 2024 ASCO Meeting

Candel Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, announced it will host a webcasted R&D breakfast panel to discuss initial overall survival data from its phase 2 clinical trial of CAN-2409, a multimodal biological immunotherapy candidate for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). This event is scheduled for Monday, June 3, 2024, at 7:00 AM Central Time during the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Dr. Paul Peter Tak, President and CEO of Candel, will lead the event and moderate a distinguished panel of scientific and medical experts, which includes Dr. Charu Aggarwal from the Perelman School of Medicine, Dr. Roy S. Herbst from Yale School of Medicine, and Dr. Daniel H. Sterman from NYU Langone Health. The discussion will focus on the promising results from the CAN-2409 clinical trials.

The event will be available via live webcast on the Candel website, with a replay accessible for 90 days post-session.

CAN-2409, an innovative multimodal biological immunotherapy, is designed to deliver the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) gene to tumors, inducing a systemic anti-tumor immune response. HSV-tk converts the administered valacyclovir into a toxic compound that targets cancer cells, promoting a CD8+ T cell mediated response against both the injected tumor and metastases. This targeted approach aims to treat various solid tumors, demonstrating effectiveness as both a monotherapy and in combination with standard treatments like radiotherapy, surgery, chemotherapy, and immune checkpoint inhibitors. Over 1,000 patients have been treated with CAN-2409, showing a favorable safety profile.

Currently, Candel is investigating CAN-2409 in NSCLC, borderline resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), and localized prostate cancer in ongoing clinical trials. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track Designation to CAN-2409 for several indications, including stage III/IV NSCLC in specific patient populations, borderline resectable PDAC, and localized prostate cancer. Additionally, CAN-2409 has received Orphan Drug Designation for PDAC.

Candel Therapeutics focuses on developing off-the-shelf multimodal biological immunotherapies aimed at eliciting individualized systemic anti-tumor immune responses. The company has established two key platforms: one based on genetically modified adenovirus and the other on herpes simplex virus (HSV) gene constructs. The lead product from the adenovirus platform, CAN-2409, is undergoing clinical trials for NSCLC, PDAC, and prostate cancer. From the HSV platform, CAN-3110 is being evaluated in a phase 1b trial for recurrent high-grade glioma (rHGG). In October 2023, results from this trial were published in Nature.

Additionally, Candel's enLIGHTEN Discovery Platform leverages human biology and advanced analytics to create new viral immunotherapies for solid tumors. The second candidate from this platform, aimed at inducing tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) as a novel therapeutic for solid tumors, was presented at the AACR Annual Meeting in April 2024.

Candel Therapeutics continues to push the boundaries of cancer treatment, developing cutting-edge therapies to improve patient outcomes across a range of cancers.