Cue Biopharma Begins Dosing Cohort 5 in an Ongoing Phase 1 Monotherapy Trial of CUE-101 in HPV+ Recurrent/Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer

• CUE-101 advances to cohort 5 following Safety Review Committee assessment of expanded cohort 4
• Cohort 5 is fully enrolled, with first patient having been dosed on July 20
• Additional patients to be enrolled in cohort 4 to further characterize pharmacodynamics and clinical activity in support of selecting a recommended Phase 2 dose

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cue Biopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: CUE), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engineering a novel class of injectable biologics designed to selectively engage and modulate targeted T cells within the body, announced today it has advanced CUE-101 into cohort 5 in its ongoing multicenter, open-label, dose escalation Phase 1 monotherapy trial in patients with human papilloma virus-positive recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HPV+ HNSCC) (NCT03978689).

Patients in cohort 5 will receive 2 mg/kg of CUE-101, which is two times the CUE-101 dose of 1 mg/kg in cohort 4. The first patient in cohort 5 received their dose and has been monitored for the initial protocol safety period of seven days with no evidence of adverse reactions. The next two patients in cohort 5 have been identified and have been scheduled to receive their first dose of CUE-101.

As previously noted in a press release dated June 15, 2020, three additional patients were enrolled in cohort 4 at the recommendation of the Safety Review Committee to further characterize immune activity and confirm safety after one of the first three patients in cohort 4 experienced a possible treatment-related dose limiting toxicity (DLT). That patient subsequently received the next planned dose of CUE-101 at the same 1.0 mg/kg dosage without an observed adverse event. As no serious (Grade 3 or higher) treatment-related adverse events were observed during a 21-day safety evaluation period for the three additional cohort 4 patients, Cue Biopharma received approval from the Safety Review Committee to initiate enrollment and treatment of patients in cohort 5.

“We are pleased to have enrolled three more patients in cohort 4 and to rapidly initiate cohort 5. Our progress is due, in large part, to the continued enthusiasm and support of our leading investigators during this challenging and uncertain time of COVID-19,” said Ken Pienta, M.D., acting chief medical officer of Cue Biopharma. “In parallel to evaluating CUE-101 at the cohort 5 dose level, we have identified additional patients to be enrolled in a further expansion of up to nine patients in cohort 4, as permitted per protocol. This allows us to further enhance our understanding of the pharmacokinetics (PK), pharmacodynamics (PD), and clinical activity of CUE-101 at what we believe could be a clinically active dose.”