Acepodia, a clinical stage biotechnology company developing first-in-class cell therapies with its unique Antibody-Cell Conjugation (ACC) platform to address gaps in cancer care, today announced that the first patient has been dosed with ACE1831 in a Phase 1, first-in-human clinical trial for patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. ACE1831 is Acepodia's first gamma delta T cell therapy to enter clinical development from its proprietary ACC platform technology derived from 2022 Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi's pioneering work in the development of bioorthogonal chemistry which moves click chemistry into living organisms.

"As we continue to validate our Antibody-Cell Conjugation (ACC) technology in humans, this trial marks the beginning of a new chapter in the field of allogeneic cell therapy," said Sonny Hsiao, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Acepodia. "Currently available cell therapies still present challenges in effectively engaging cancer cells due to immunosuppression caused by the tumor microenvironment. By utilizing potent gamma delta T cells with our novel tumor-targeting mechanisms, we are committed to identifying a safe and therapeutic dose in this Phase 1 trial and to advancing this study in larger patient cohorts."

The Phase 1 trial is a multi-center, dose escalation trial that will evaluate the safety of ACE1831 in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The goal of the study is to determine the maximum tolerated dose of ACE1831, which is administered intravenously via a single infusion following completion of lymphodepleting chemotherapy. The study is expected to enroll up to 42 patients in the United States.

ACE1831 is an off-the-shelf gamma delta T cell therapy candidate developed from Acepodia's proprietary ACC platform. ACE1831 targets CD20-expressing hematological cancers using anti-CD20 antibody conjugated gamma delta T cells. Taking advantage of the high expression of NK activating receptors of the gamma delta T cells to scavenge the malignant blood cells, ACE1831 has demonstrated in models enhanced cytotoxicity against cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo.