AACR Annual Meeting 2024: The key announcements you need to read

Attendees can expect more than 7,200 abstracts, as well as six plenary sessions, seven focused ‘advances’ sessions, more than 50 symposia, four clinical trial plenary sessions, over a dozen forums and special sessions and nearly 300 poster sessions.

Bio Pharma Reporter will be collating all the key announcements from the AACR, so make sure to revisit this page​ in order to stay up to date on the latest developments and presentations. 

Ivy Brain Tumor Center 

The Ivy Brain Tumor Center at Barrow Neurological Institute will announce promising news from a phase 0/1 clinical trial testing its novel drug, AZD1390, in glioblastoma patients.

Nader Sanai, director of the center, will present the full study findings during an oral abstract presentation at AACR on Tuesday April 9.

The study, in collaboration with AstraZeneca using their drug AZD1390, demonstrated that AZD1390 may be a potent radiosensitizer in both newly diagnosed and recurrent glioblastoma patients.

The treatment was well-tolerated among the patient population and achieved high concentrations in patients’ tumor tissue, successfully modulating its target in this tissue.

AZD1390 is a first-in-class ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) kinase inhibitor. 

“Our clinical trial of AZD1390 tests a first-in-class drug that reaches pharmacologically relevant concentrations in the brain and effectively blocks ATM-dependent signaling and DNA double-strand break repair in newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients,” Sanai said.

“These findings from our early-phase clinical trials program at the Ivy Center offer potential avenues for targeted therapies, instilling a sense of hope and fostering renewed determination in our ongoing pursuit of effective brain tumor treatments.” 

Ivy Brain Tumor Center scientists and investigators will also present seven posters highlighting results from preclinical and clinical studies at the meeting.   

Incendia Therapeutics

Precision oncology company Incendia Therapeutics has announced it will have three poster presentations at the AACR.

Laura Dillion, vice president of translational medicine and bioinformatics at Incendia, said: “We look forward to presenting these posters at AACR, which highlight our work to characterize immune exclusion in the TME.

“The data continue to validate that Discoidin Domain Receptor 1 (DDR1), the target of Incendia’s PRTH-101 program that is currently in the clinic, is highly correlated with immune exclusion in the tumor microenvironment across epithelial tumors.

“Additionally, they demonstrate the power of applying H&E-based biomarkers, driven by machine learning, to better interrogate the TME. We look forward to further exploring the potential of this technology, combined with our novel class of anti-cancer therapies, to better treat cancer patients by targeting the tumor microenvironment.”

The first presentation, delivered by Dillion, is ‘Discoidin Domain Receptor 1 (DDR1) expression is associated with degree of immune exclusion across epithelial tumors’ on Monday April 8 from 1.30pm – 5pm.

The second will be ‘Machine learning-based identification of H&E-derived morphologic features associated with CD8+ T cell immune exclusion’ on Wednesday April 10 from 9am – 12.30pm, presented by Yanchao Wang, data scientist at Incendia.

Lastly, Incendia will present a poster in collaboration with Alpenglow Biosciences called ‘3D spatial quantification of lymphocyte infiltration and collagen features in the tumor microenvironment using a novel assay: 3D I/O Pro.’

It will be hosted by Bonnie Phillips, director, commercial development at Alpenglow Biosciences.

Hutchmed

Biopharmaceutical company Hutchmed will be presenting new and updated data from several studies of compounds discovered by the Hong-Kong based firm. 

Initial preclinical data will be presented for HMPL-506, a novel, highly potent and differentiated menin-MLL inhibitor for the treatment of certain types of acute leukemia.

Compared with five other menin inhibitors in clinical development, HMPL-506 showed the 'stronger inhibitory potency' in MLL-rearranged and NPM1 mutant leukemia cell line models, the company claims. 

In addition, the treatment, in combination with azacytidine, venetoclax or gilteritinib synergistically improved the anti-tumor effect against MLL​-rearranged leukemias both in vitro​ and in vivo​.

It will be further investigated in a phase 1 clinical trial planned for the second half of 2024. 

Hutchmed will also showcase initial preclinical data for HMPL-A067, a novel CD38-targeting antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) which demonstrated 'significant' superior anti-tumor activity in several B-cell malignancies models with resistance to daratumumab treatment.

Heidelberg Pharma ​

Clinical stage biotech company Heidelberg Pharma will be hosting a research and development (R&D) webinar following its novel data presented at AACR. 

Scheduled to broadcast on April 23 2024 at 4pm EST / 3pm BST, it will feature presentations from Heidelberg Pharma’s management team, alongside key opinion leaders (KOLs) in the ADC field including Rakesh Dixit, CEO of Bionavigen and Jonathan Kaufman, associate professor of hematology and medical oncology at Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, USA.

The event will also provide information on Heidelberg Pharma’s lead clinical ATAC product candidate HDP-101, targeting relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma, as well as its proprietary ADC toolbox and therapeutic product pipeline.

The webinar will follow a clinical presentation given by Heidelberg Pharma at AACR, outlining its first efficacy data from a phase 1/2a clinical trial of HDP-101. 

BPGbio​

AI-powered biopharma company BPGbio has announced the application of its NAi interrogative biology platform across several drug and diagnostic applications, following successful collaborations with Stanford University, University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and several hospitals across Mexico. 

The company will present four posters showcasing these research collaborations and provide updates on other internal research activities at the AACR.

“Our company has pioneered and proliferated a unique biology-first approach to the use of AI in drug discovery and development as we focus on high unmet disease indications,” said Niven Narain, CEO and president of BPGbio.

“Our NAi Interrogative Biology platform has guided our development team via many successful research collaborations enabling us to deliver positive clinical trial readouts across multiple indications in various stages of development. Our goal is to offer potential and hope to patients and families facing ravaging diseases like GBM and pancreatic cancer.”

The first presentation is 'Application of deep learning-based drug sensitivity prediction model on a novel anticancer drug' on Monday April 8 from 1.30pm - 5pm in poster section 35.

On the same day, the company will also be hosting 'Diagnostic assessment of Filamin A (FLNA) as a serum biomarker for identification of benign prostatic hyperplasia vs. aggressive prostate cancer in a prospective Mexican cohort' at the same time in poster section 44. 

On Tuesday April 9, BPGbio is presenting 'In charge: Targeting neddylation of UBE2M for anticancer therapy' from 9am - 12.30pm in poster section 28.

Finally, conference goers can attend 'BPM31510: Targeting the tumor microenvironment (TME) via mitochondrial-mediated ROS production' also on April 9 from 1.30pm - 5pm in poster section 47.