Apexigen announces new data evaluating agonist antibody sotigalimab for CD40

Apexigen announced the presentation of new data from Phase 2 multicenter clinical trials evaluating sotigalimab or sotiga , Apexigen’s agonist antibody targeting CD40, in two poster presentations at the ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, being held both virtually and in San Francisco, California from January 19-21. "We are excited to present new data at ASCO demonstrating sotiga’s differentiated mechanism of action and ability to expand anti-tumor immune responses by modulating the tumor microenvironment for increased therapeutic effect," said Frank Hsu, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Apexigen. "In patients with esophageal/gastro-esophageal junction cancer, single-agent sotiga turned immunologically "cold" tumors "hot" by inducing significant inflammatory responses in the TME. Following a single dose of sotiga monotherapy there was an increase in T cell density, particularly activated and memory cytotoxic T cells and macrophages. Although patient sample numbers are small, pathologic complete responses were associated with an increased density of T cells following a single dose of sotiga. In a separate study, results demonstrated that adding sotiga to short-course radiation therapy (SCRT) led to increased activation of anti-cancer immune cells, including T cells, B cells and dendritic cells in the TME of rectal cancer patients compared to SCRT alone. We believe sotiga has the potential to provide meaningful clinical benefit across multiple solid tumor indications and become a backbone of combination therapy to address the need for innovative treatment options. We look forward to providing further updates as we advance our clinical program."