Corvus Pharmaceuticals Presents Soquelitinib Preclinical Data at the Keystone Symposia on Systemic Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Diseases

Poster presentation unveils Corvus’ next-generation ITK inhibitor candidates designed to deliver precise T cell modulation for immunology indications

BURLINGAME, Calif., Feb. 12, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Corvus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRVS), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, today announced that preclinical data for soquelitinib, the Company’s lead ITK inhibitor program, was presented in a poster session at the Keystone Symposia on Systemic Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Diseases, which took place February 8-11, 2024.

The poster presentation includes the first description of Corvus’ next-generation ITK inhibitor preclinical product candidates, which were designed to deliver precise T-cell modulation that is optimized for specific immunology indications. These preclinical product candidates exhibit specific biologic properties that are anticipated to enable more precise inhibition of Th1, Th2 and/or Th17 cell function. Atopic dermatitis (also called eczema) and asthma are thought to be mediated primarily by Th2 lymphocytes. Th17 cells are associated with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. A Th1 immune response is strongly implicated in rheumatoid arthritis and protection from many infections. The Venn diagram in Figure 1 illustrates the potential ability of various ITK inhibitor preclinical candidates developed by Corvus (I-number indicates individual compounds; SQL represents soquelitinib) to modify the differentiation of T cells. These results suggest that chemical structures may be refined to perform more specific biologic functions and may enable targeting of various disease types.

Figure 1: Venn diagram illustrating different biological properties of the next-gen ITK inhibitors in T cell differentiation assays.

“We have established our leadership in ITK inhibition with the development of soquelitinib, which is advancing on track towards the initiation of a registration Phase 3 trial in relapsed peripheral T cell lymphoma and the initiation of a randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 1 trial in atopic dermatitis,” said Richard A. Miller, M.D., co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Corvus. “We are building further on the connection between lymphoma and immune diseases, and the role of ITK inhibition. Our research has led to the development of next-generation inhibitors that are designed to precisely modulate specific T cell subset functions in order to potentially treat a range of diseases. The selectivity of these next generation ITK inhibitors gives Corvus options to choose between broad immunosuppression and highly targeted immunomodulation depending on the clinical indication.”