IRX Therapeutics and ImmunID Announce Collaboration to Predict Response to IRX-2 Cancer Immunotherapy Using ImmunTraCkeR®

NEW YORK and GRENOBLE, France, Jan. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- IRX Therapeutics, a clinical-stage bioresearch company developing cancer immunotherapies, and ImmunID, an immune molecular diagnostics and precision medicine company, today announced they have entered into a collaboration agreement for prediction of response to the IRX-2 immunotherapy candidate using the ImmunTraCkeR^® assay.

Under the collaboration, ImmunID will use its flagship clinical product, ImmunTraCkeR^®, to assess the immune-modulatory effect of IRX-2 in patients with newly diagnosed head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) from IRX's randomized phase 2b study (IRX-2 Neoadjuvant Therapy in Head and Neck SCC to Provide Immune Response Enhancement: INSPIRE). The ImmunTraCkeR^® assay will be used before and after treatment with IRX-2 to:

• Understand pre-existing immunity of newly diagnosed head and neck squamous cell cancer patients;
• Monitor T cell diversity over time in order to assess immune-modulatory effect of IRX-2.
• Make a preliminary assessment of ImmunTraCkeR^® acting as a predictor of response to IRX-2

IRX's lead product, IRX-2, is a primary cell-derived biologic with multiple active cytokine components that acts on multiple cell types of the immune system including T cells, dendritic cells and natural killer cells. Analyses of the data from the phase 2 study suggest that IRX-2 is driving changes in the blood consistent with an anticancer immune response and that IRX-2 induces increased lymphocyte infiltration into HNSCC tumors, which is correlated with improved OS. Investigators have observed clinical responses. IRX-2 is now undergoing further clinical investigation in the INSPIRE study. This randomized, phase 2b study has been designed to determine whether neoadjuvant treatment with IRX-2 in newly diagnosed HNSCC beginning before curative surgery can reduce the risk of recurrence.

ImmunID has been a pioneer in the field of immune molecular diagnostics for a decade. Its clinical product ImmunTraCkeR^® evaluates a patient's immune status, from a simple liquid biopsy (5ml EDTA blood), based on T lymphocyte repertoire diversity. ImmunID has developed and patented the ImmunTraCkeR^® diagnostic assay and is expanding its clinical utility to become the general immune companion diagnostics for immunotherapies and especially immune checkpoint agents.  

John W. Hadden II, Chief Executive Officer of IRX Therapeutics, said: "We are pleased to be working with ImmunID. This collaboration will provide an insight into T cell diversity in patients treated with our novel immune-modulator, IRX-2, and the correlation with response to the treatment over time. We believe that ImmunID's ImmunTraCkeR^® assay may provide deeper insight into the clinical results we have generated to date and provide a companion diagnostic to our novel cancer treatment in the future."

Dr Bernhard Sixt, Chairman and CEO of ImmunID, added: "We are excited to collaborate with IRX Therapeutics in such an advanced development phase in immuno-oncology. ImmunTraCkeR^® will help to characterize the patient immune status and may help to select those highly likely to respond to IRX-2, thus widening its clinical value as a general immune companion diagnostics assay."

About IRX Therapeutics
IRX Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel immunotherapies based upon reversing immune suppression typically seen in patients with cancer and other diseases by activating and stimulating multiple components of the cellular immune system. Our extensive research science leads us to believe this will result in immune system recognition of and activation against the disease.
www.irxtherapeutics.com
www.inspirehnc.com

About ImmunID
ImmunID adds precision to the immuno-oncology revolution by personalizing immunotherapy for cancer patients. With its decade-long experience in immune molecular diagnostics, ImmunID provide doctors with clinically meaningful data on the highly complex immune system to select the right therapy for individual patients and to monitor their response. ImmunID's flagship CE-marked product, ImmunTraCkeR®, evaluates the patient's immune status based on the T lymphocyte diversity, from a simple liquid biopsy. The company is establishing ImmunTraCkeR® as the general immune companion diagnostic assay for immune checkpoint inhibitors and other immunotherapies. In addition, ImmunID collaborates with pharma and biotech companies to optimize the development of their next-generation immunotherapies. ImmunID is ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 certified and runs a CAP-accredited laboratory in the MINATEC high-tech campus in Grenoble, France. 
www.immunid.com - Follow ImmunID on Twitter: @ImmunID

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SOURCE ImmunID & IRX Therapeutics