Abstract 1764: Development of an alphalex™-auristatin low pH targeting conjugate for the treatment of solid tumors

Abstract Auristatins such as monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE) are a class of high potency microtubule targeting compounds that have an extremely narrow therapeutic window. Targeting potent auristatins to the tumor is the only feasible method of unlocking the clinical potential of such toxic molecules. While there are currently four marketed antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) featuring auristatins, these ADCs face the same fundamental issues - tumor restriction by target antigen and the potential for off target release of payload. Alphalex࣪ is a tumor targeting technology consisting of a unique variant of a family of pH-Low Insertion Peptides (pHLIP®) that target acidic cell surfaces (references 1-2), a cleavable small molecule linker, and an anti-cancer agent warhead. Alphalex࣪ thereby allows for antigen independent targeting of the tumor and enables intracellular delivery of the warhead by leveraging the low pH microenvironment of the tumor, a universal feature common to all tumors due to the Warburg effect. Here we report the preclinical efficacy, safety, and antigen-independent tumor-targeting properties of alphalex࣪ conjugated to MMAE. We demonstrate the ability of alphalex࣪-MMAE to display potent in vitro and in vivo efficacy in colorectal, non-small cell lung, and prostate carcinoma cell lines. We further show that alphalex࣪-MMAE efficiently and safely delivers efficacious levels of MMAE selectively to tumor and demonstrates extreme plasma stability, with 0.02% warhead release over 24h in the rat. Based on the excellent preclinical safety and efficacy profile of alphalex࣪-MMAE, Cybrexa will move forward with the goal of initiating IND-enabling studies in 2022. References: 1. Wyatt LC, Lewis JS, Andreev OA, Reshetnyak YK, Engelman DM. Applications of pHLIP Technology for Cancer Imaging and Therapy. Trends Biotechnol. 2017 Jul;35(7):653-664. 2. Wyatt LC, Moshnikova A, Crawford T, Engelman DM, Andreev OA, Reshetnyak YK. Peptides of pHLIP family for targeted intracellular and extracellular delivery of cargo molecules to tumors. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2018 Mar 20;115(12):E2811-E2818. Citation Format: Sophia Gayle, Robert Aiello, Jane Bechtold, Patricia Bourassa, Johanna Csengery, Connor Hagen, Katia Howard, Kelli Jones, Lori Lopresti-Morrow, Robert Maguire, Timothy Paradis, Theresa Pasqualini, Joseph Tweed, Laurie Tylaska, Qing Zhang, Vishwas Paralkar. Development of an alphalex™-auristatin low pH targeting conjugate for the treatment of solid tumors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 1764.