TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd has raised €22.6 million from the European Innovation Council and other investors to bring its oncolytic virus therapy for patients with ovarian cancer into Phase 2. The funding will also support earlier studies for the product, TILT-123, in other indications. TILT-123 is an oncolytic adenovirus encoding tumour necrosis factor alpha and interleukin 2. It is designed to work alongside T cell therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors to target and kill cancer cells.
Announced on 13 May, the funding comes on the back of positive data from a single-arm Phase 1a study in ovarian cancer that generated significant survival data for a small group of patients who had not responded to earlier treatments. The results of the study were published on 5 February in Nature Communications. In the study, 15 female patients received injections of TILT-123 as well as pembrolizumab. The primary endpoint was safety, with efficacy as a secondary endpoint.
The results showed that nine patients, or 64% of the total, achieved control over their disease. Median progression-free survival and overall survival were 98 and 190 days respectively. The study’s authors point out that there are no approved treatments using both an oncolytic virus and checkpoint inhibitor. That said, it was a small study and a larger group of patients will be needed to confirm the results. The funding will support a roll-out of larger Phase 2 trials with the first site in the US.
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