Phio Pharmaceuticals Announces Dosing of First Patient in Collaborative Clinical Trial with AgonOx, Inc. and Providence Cancer Institute

Trial targeting treatment of metastatic melanoma and other solid tumors

MARLBOROUGH, Mass., Aug. 21, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp. (Nasdaq: PHIO), a clinical stage biotechnology company whose proprietary INTASYL RNAi platform technology is designed to make immune cells more effective in killing tumor cells, today announced that its clinical development partners, AgonOx, Inc. and Providence Cancer Institute of Oregon, have dosed their first patient in an Adoptive Cell Therapy clinical trial.

This first-in-human trial is investigating the safety and the potential for enhanced therapeutic benefit from the administration of AgonOx’s AGX148 'double positive' (DP) CD8 tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) alone and in combination with Phio's PD-1 silencing PH-762 in patients with melanoma and other advanced solid tumors. More information about this clinical trial is available at clinicaltrials.gov. The clinical trial is one of two studies cleared by the FDA which will utilize Phio’s lead product candidate, PH-762.

The trial is being conducted at Providence Cancer Institute in Portland, Oregon, by Principal Investigator Brendan Curti, M.D., medical oncologist and Robert W. Franz Endowed Chair for Clinical Research at the Earle A. Chiles Research Institute, a division of Providence. “Our institute has been at the leading edge of immunotherapy clinical research including checkpoint immunotherapy, novel co-stimulatory agents and cancer vaccines,” said Dr. Curti. “Our vision of the future is to select and engineer immune cells with enhanced abilities to attack tumors. We have a strong record of accomplishment in translating laboratory ideas into clinical practice. The work with Dr. Weinberg is another example of exciting first-in-human translational science from our Institute and its many ongoing collaborations.”

“TIL therapies hold the promise of clinical benefit in patients with solid malignancies. This product is different from current TIL therapies as we are selectively expanding the tumor-reactive T cells and potentially increasing their potency by reducing PD-1 suppression,” said Andrew Weinberg, Ph.D., Founder and CSO of AgonOx, Inc., and Judith Ann Hartmann Endowed Chair for the Laboratory of Basic Immunology at the Earle A. Chiles Research Institute.