Aulos Bioscience – an immuno-oncology company working to revolutionize cancer care by developing potentially best-in-class IL-2 therapeutics – recently announced $20 million in Series A extension funding committed by Apple Tree Partners (ATP). The funds will advance Aulos’ lead human monoclonal antibody candidate, AU-007, through its initial Phase 2 clinical study in solid tumor cancers.
This recent funding round follows ATP’s initial $40 million Series A funding announced in January 2021, soon after Aulos was spun out from co-founder Biolojic Design, a biotechnology company in Israel specializing in artificial intelligence and computationally designed functional antibodies. Biolojic Design used its machine learning algorithms to create AU-007 to harness the power of interleukin-2 (IL-2) to eradicate solid tumors. AU-007 is the first human monoclonal antibody created using AI to have entered a human clinical trial.
The antibody is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial enrolling patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic cancer at multiple clinical trial site locations in the US and Australia. Interim Phase 1/2 data released during the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2023 Annual Meeting show that AU-007 is well tolerated in patients. The data also indicates that it is the only IL-2 therapy to demonstrate an overall trend in decreasing regulatory T cells (Tregs) and eosinophils, encouraging early signs of anti-tumor activity.
The company anticipates transitioning to the Phase 2 portion of the AU-007 study in the fall and presenting updated clinical data by year-end.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are very pleased to strengthen this partnership with our visionary founders at ATP as we further develop AU-007, which has already demonstrated promising early clinical results in the treatment of solid tumors. This new funding underscores the potential of AU-007 and its unique mechanism of action, which prevents IL-2 from binding to Tregs, blood vessels and eosinophils while accurately redirecting IL-2 to activate cancer-killing effector T cells and NK cells. We look forward to establishing proof of concept and continuing development through the Phase 2 portion of the study.”
— Aron Knickerbocker, Aulos Bioscience’s chief executive officer
“Our excitement in launching Aulos and our continued support of the company are rooted in the potential of AU-007, which offers distinct competitive advantages over other IL-2 therapies with its ability to bind to IL-2 instead of the IL-2 receptor. We like what we are seeing at this early stage of clinical development, and Aulos’ management team has extensive experience and a track record of success. We believe Aulos could potentially transform the IL-2 therapeutic class and current approaches to multiple cancers.”
— Michael Ehlers, M.D., Ph.D., chief scientific officer of ATP and a venture partner at the firm
