Press Release

BEVERLY, Mass., October 24, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — TellBio, Inc., a development stage biotechnology company focused on revolutionizing the detection of cancer through its unique and proprietary circulating tumor cell (CTC) technology, TellDx, and treatment through its complementary therapeutics platform, TellRx, announces publication of data from the scientific founders that show a beneficial impact of a novel antibody targeting multiple cadherins on tumor cell dissemination in mouse models of breast and pancreatic cancer. The results were published on October 18, 2022, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
(DOI 10.1073/pnas.2209563119).

Greater than 10 million patients die from cancer each year and more than 90% of the deaths are attributed to metastasis. CTC are thought to be the precursors of metastasis. CTC detection using a minimally invasive liquid biopsy approach has been shown to be prognostic. Currently, there are no approved therapies that specifically target the metastatic process. As such, targeting CTCs with novel therapeutics could likely have a significant impact on cancer metastases and patient outcome.

“TellBio is focused on the detection, monitoring, and treatment of cancer metastasis. These exciting data demonstrate that the TellDx platform can detect heterogenous CTCs in the metastatic setting and can be implemented in studies to achieve an earlier read on efficacy of investigational agents. Furthermore, the efficacy of 23C6 on reducing CTCs and suppressing cancer metastasis is promising,” said Pritesh J. Gandhi, PharmD, CEO, TellBio.

Tumor metastasis is a multi-step process whereby cancer cells invade blood vessels through a complex process referred to epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Circulating tumor cells are heterogenous and both epithelial (CDH1) and mesenchymal (CDH11) cancer cells have been implicated in metastatic spread making them a potential therapeutic target to attenuate cancer metastasis.

In this paper, authors including TellBio scientific founders, Drs Mehmet Toner, Shyamala Maheswaran, David Ting, and Daniel A. Haber of Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Cancer Research, sought to study the impact of a novel antibody (23C6) targeting multiple cadherins expressed on both epithelial (CDH1) and mesenchymal (CDH11) circulating tumor cells and the effects on metastasis in mouse models of breast and pancreatic cancer.

Novel dual-cadherin antibody, 23C6,was initiated on day of inoculation and continued post-resection.   Metastasis burden was assessed by CTC enrichment, with the TellDx platform that isolates live cells of both epithelial and mesenchymal lineage, and bioluminescence. Administration of 23C6 demonstrated 100-fold reduction in CTC count in pancreatic cancer model and led tosignificant metastatic suppression.

“These data show the administration of anti-metastatic therapy with 23C6 resulted in a reduction in CTCs and inhibition of metastatic spread “, said Dr. David Ting, Associate Clinical Director for Innovation at the MGH Cancer Center and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Overall, this study underscores exquisite synergy of the TellBio platform. Enriching CTCs with TellDx and subsequent understanding of the biology of CTCs fuels the TellRx pipeline. TellBio has exclusive optionality to license 23C6 and integrate it into the TellRx portfolio.