Nature Medicine Publishes Interim Results from Gritstone bio’s Phase 1/2 Study of “Off-the-Shelf” Neoantigen Vaccine Platform (SLATE)

-- Paper details vaccine design optimization process of Gritstone’s “off-the-shelf” or shared neoantigen vaccine platform, SLATE --

-- Discovery of a novel immunodominance hierarchy of tumor neoantigens (including KRAS) enabled the development of a more potent, KRAS-specific vaccine candidate (SLATE-KRAS) being studied by Steven A. Rosenberg of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) --

-- Publication underscores the important role of antigen selection and cassette design in the development of neoantigen-directed immunotherapy --

EMERYVILLE, Calif., April 15, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gritstone bio, Inc. (Nasdaq: GRTS), a clinical-stage biotechnology company working to develop the world’s most potent vaccines, announced today that a paper detailing the development of its “off-the-shelf” neoantigen platform, SLATE, recently published in Nature Medicine. The paper, “A shared neoantigen vaccine combined with immune checkpoint blockade for advanced metastatic solid tumors: phase 1 trial interim results,” describes a novel immunodominance hierarchy of tumor neoantigens (including KRAS) that Gritstone discovered in Phase 1 translational studies and leveraged to develop SLATE-KRAS, a “pure” KRAS-directed candidate that demonstrated superior immunogenicity to the initial version in a subsequent Phase 2 study and is currently being evaluated in a novel cell therapy-vaccine combination study run by Steven A. Rosenberg of the National Cancer Institute (NCT06253520).

“The publication of these findings in Nature Medicine highlights the promise of our ‘off-the-shelf’ or shared neoantigen approach in solid tumors, one of the many elements embedded within our mission to develop the world’s most potent vaccines,” said Andrew Allen, M.D., Ph.D., Co-founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Gritstone bio. "Our team’s innovative work to develop, optimize and validate SLATE positions Gritstone with two promising platforms to execute against our neoantigen-directed approach to oncology. It also enabled the pioneering collaboration that we are currently advancing with Dr. Rosenberg of the NCI, a luminary in the field. SLATE is ready for ‘plug and play’ application across a spectrum of solid tumors and could serve as a great complementary platform to GRANITE, our personalized vaccine program. We continue to have great conviction that both approaches could unlock new levels of immune responses for patients with solid tumors.”