Histopathologic image of malignant melanoma. Credit: KGH.

Idera Pharmaceuticals has signed a clinical development support agreement with Pillar Partners Foundation for carrying out three trials of IMO-2125, a toll-like receptor (TLR) 9 agonist that can target melanoma and other solid tumours.

As part of the deal, Pillar Partners will provide direct funding to support the investigator-initiated trials, while Idera will provide IMO-2125.

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One of the proposed trials will be a Phase I/II open label study of intratumoral IMO-2125 in combination with intratumoral ipilimumab and IV nivolumab for the treatment of multiple tumour types, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck and urothelial carcinoma.

“We have long believed that the mechanism for IMO-2125 has broad potential and plays a central role in IO combinations beyond PD-1 refractory melanoma.”

France’s Institut Gustave Roussy Cancer Immunotherapy Program clinical director Aurélien Marabelle will be the principal investigator of the trial.

The second trial will be a Phase II study of intratumoral IMO-2125 in combination with IV pembrolizumab to treat patients with NSCLC.

The American University of Beirut Medical Center’s NK Basile Cancer Institute Research director Arafat Tfayli has been appointed as the principal investigator of the trial.

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The third trial will be a Phase II placebo-controlled study of intradermal administration of IMO-2125 to treat patients with T3/T4 primary melanoma scheduled to undergo a combined re-excision and sentinel node biopsy procedure.

Pillar Invest managing partner Youssef El Zein said: “We have long believed and understood that the mechanism for IMO-2125 has broad potential and plays a central role in IO combinations beyond PD-1 refractory melanoma and through this financial grant, we are able to help light the spark to further expand our ability to test this hypothesis in multiple tumour types with expert clinical investigators.”

The proposed trials are scheduled to begin by the end of this year.

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