PDC*line Pharma announces the administration of a first patient with its therapeutic cancer vaccine candidate targeting non-small cell lung cancer

Liège, Belgium and Grenoble, France, March 3, 2020 – PDC*line Pharma, a clinical stage biotech company developing a new class of potent and scalable active immunotherapies for cancers, announces today that the first patient was dosed with its innovative medicinal product candidate PDC*lung01 in a phase I/II trial in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This patient is under the supervision of Dr. Anne Sibille, principal investigator for the Liege University Hospital (Belgium).

The objectives of the phase I/II trial (PDC-LUNG-101) are to assess the safety, tolerability, immunogenicity and preliminary clinical activity of the drug candidate, PDC*lung01, associated or not with anti-PD-1 treatment in NSCLC. A total of 62 evaluable HLA-A*02:01 positive NSCLC patients are expected in three clinical centers in Belgium and six in France.

PDC*lung01 is a cell suspension of a mix, in the same proportion, of seven active agents made of irradiated human plasmacytoïd dendritic cells (PDC*line) loaded separately with a distinct synthetic human leukocyte antigen serotype-restricted peptide (HLA-A*02:01) encoded by a tumour antigen. PDC*line is a potent professional antigen-presenting cell that is able to prime and boost the antitumor cytotoxic CD8+ T-cells in the patient’s immune system.

 “We are delighted to have achieved this first important milestone in the clinical development of PDC*line Pharma with our lead cancer vaccine candidate,” said Eric Halioua, president and CEO of PDC*line Pharma. “Based on preclinical studies there is a strong rationale for developing PDC*lung01 in this indication and we are currently exploring a number of additional indications, where our technology may provide potential benefit for patients.”

“I’m very pleased to start patient dosing of the PDC*line Pharma phase I/II trial in our clinical center” said Dr. Anne Sibille, principal investigator for the Liege University Hospital

“PDC*lung01 is an innovation in the field of cancer vaccines that appears particularly suitable for the treatment of NSCLC patients, an area where there is still a high unmet medical need,” said Dr. Channa Debruyne, medical director of PDC*line Pharma.