Problems at yet another biotech specialising in TIL therapies, in this case Turnstone Biologics, won’t boost enthusiasm for this type of approach. Turnstone on Friday said it would axe 60% of its workforce and curtail preclinical work in an effort to focus on its lead phase 1 TIL (tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte) project, TIDAL-01. The group floated on Nasdaq just over a year ago, raising $80m for a pipeline of TIL assets, but has evidently found it impossible to raise more cash as its valuation dwindled to barely $10m. At least TILs remain Turnstone’s key focus; the same can’t be said for Achilles, which last month discontinued TIL trials to focus on other cell therapies, or Instil Bio, which in August switched from TILs – the focus of its 2021 IPO – to a newly licensed bispecific antibody. The one notable TIL success has been Iovance’s Amtagvi, which did secure US approval; however, that came after years of delays, and Iovance is having to launch solo. There have been other disappointments, but plenty of clinical work on TILs continues, much of it in China. Selected work on tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs)CompanySelected projectsMechanism of actionIovance BiotherapeuticsAmtagvi approvedTILGrit BiotechnologyGT101 in ph2TILHervor TherapeuticsHV-101 in ph1/2TILIntima BioscienceTIL-CISH in ph1/2CISH inactivated TILAbelZeta PharmaC-TIL051 in ph1TILAgonOxAGX-148 in ph1CD39+/CD103+/CD8+ TILBioSyngenBST02 in ph1TILLyell ImmunopharmaLYL845 in ph1TILNeogenTCNEOG-100 in ph1TILObsidian TherapeuticsOBX-115 in ph1/2mbIL-15 TILShanghai Juncell TherapeuticsGC101 in ph1TILTurnstone BiologicsTIDAL-01 in ph1TILBioNTechBNT221 (ex Neon) disappointed at ESMO 2023Personalised neoantigen-specific TILInstil BioTIL work discontinued except ITIL-306FOLR1-CoStAR TILAchilles TherapeuticsATL001 discontinuedPersonalised neoantigen-specific TILOriCell TherapeuticsPipeline no longer lists TILsTILImmaticsPipeline no longer lists TILsPersonalised TILSource: OncologyPipeline.
Problems at yet another biotech specialising in TIL therapies, in this case Turnstone Biologics, won’t boost enthusiasm for this type of approach. Turnstone on Friday said it would axe 60% of its workforce and curtail preclinical work in an effort to focus on its lead phase 1 TIL (tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte) project, TIDAL-01. The group floated on Nasdaq just over a year ago, raising $80m for a pipeline of TIL assets, but has evidently found it impossible to raise more cash as its valuation dwindled to barely $10m. At least TILs remain Turnstone’s key focus; the same can’t be said for Achilles, which last month discontinued TIL trials to focus on other cell therapies, or Instil Bio, which in August switched from TILs – the focus of its 2021 IPO – to a newly licensed bispecific antibody. The one notable TIL success has been Iovance’s Amtagvi, which did secure US approval; however, that came after years of delays, and Iovance is having to launch solo. There have been other disappointments, but plenty of clinical work on TILs continues, much of it in China.
Selected work on tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs)
