Cullinan Oncology Focuses on Immuno-oncology Therapeutic Target

 About Cullinan Oncology

Cullinan Oncology is a biopharmaceutical company that strives to deliver results for our various stakeholders through disciplined capital allocation, decisive action, prudent risk-taking and creative business development. The company seeks to drive shareholder returns by focusing on the patient. The Company’s strategy is to build a diversified pipeline of targeted and immuno-oncology therapeutic candidates that are uncorrelated across multiple dimensions, with a focus on assets that it believes have novel technology, employ differentiated mechanisms, are in a more advanced stage of development than competing candidates, or have a combination of these attributes

 About CLN-049
CLN-049 is a humanized bispecific antibody being developed for relapsed/refractory AML. CLN-049 is designed to simultaneously bind to FLT3 on target leukemic cells and to CD3 on T cells, triggering the T cells to kill the targeted cancer cells via their intrinsic cytolytic mechanisms. Studies have shown that FLT3 is expressed by FACS staining on AML blasts in at least 75% of AML patients, regardless of an oncogenic driver mutation. The expression of FLT3 on the surface of leukemic blasts in most AML patients and its role as a known oncogenic driver make it an attractive therapeutic target for a T cell engager approach.
In preclinical studies, CLN-049 led to potent FLT3-dependent killing of leukemic cells in vitro at a wide range of FLT3 expression levels on AML cells. Treatment with CLN-049, even at low doses, led to survival benefit in an AML xenograft model and complete elimination of leukemic blasts in various mouse models implanted with primary patient leukemic cells or AML cell lines. 

About CLN-081

CLN-081 is an orally available, irreversible EGFR inhibitor that was designed to selectively target cells expressing mutant EGFR variants, including Ins20, while sparing cells expressing wild type EGFR. In preclinical studies, CLN-081 demonstrated inhibition against traditional sensitizing mutations (exon 19 deletions and L858R), Ins20 (the third most common EGFR mutation), and other less common mutations (G719X, L861Q, and S768I).

Cullinan is evaluating various doses of CLN-081 in a Phase 1/2a trial in patients with NSCLC harboring Ins20 mutations that have progressed post chemotherapy. Based on pre-specified efficacy and safety criteria, Cullinan recently initiated Phase 2a dose expansion in the 100 mg BID dosing cohort, which will enable enrollment of up to 36 patients at this dose level, inclusive of 13 previously enrolled patients.