Krystal Biotech announces first patient dosed in Phase 1 trial of KB707

Krystal Biotech announced that the first patient was dosed in its Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating inhaled KB707, a modified HSV-1 vector designed to deliver genes encoding both human interleukin-12 and interleukin-2 to the lung, for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors of the lung. “Cytokine therapy holds significant potential for the treatment of solid tumors but its utility has been limited by a lack of safe and effective delivery options,” said David Chien, M.D., Senior Vice President of Clinical Development at Krystal Biotech. “Cytokine delivery via inhalation is a first-of-its-kind therapeutic approach made possible by the unique attributes of Krystal’s HSV-1-based vector platform. Together with intratumoral KB707, inhaled KB707 has the potential to significantly expand the clinical utility of cytokine therapy to treat a wide range of otherwise difficult-to-treat and standard of care refractory solid tumors. Dosing the first patient in KYANITE-1 is an exciting step toward our goal of delivering a new class of cancer immunotherapies.”