Science
Sotigalimab (APX005M) – Anti-CD40 Agonist mAb
Sotigalimab is a CD40 agonist that has been designed to reverse the systemic immune suppression that typically affects cancer patients, through the activation of several mechanisms of immune functionality. CD40 is a co-stimulatory receptor that is essential for activating both innate and adaptive arms of the immune system. Activation of CD40 initiates and amplifies a complex, multi-cellular immune response, bringing components of both immune systems to work in concert against cancer.
Sotigalimab is a humanized monoclonal antibody that binds CD40 with high affinity and activates antigen presenting cells (dendritic cells, monocytes and B cells) leading to stimulation of cancer-specific T-cell responses. As such, CD40 activation could play a fundamental role in tumor-specific immune activation.
Apexigen believes Sotigalimab has the potential to be a best-in-class CD40 agonistic antibody that can be used as a single agent and in combination with other immuno-oncology agents, targeted therapeutics, chemotherapies, vaccines and radiation therapy.
CD40 Plays a Central Role in the Immune Response Against Cancer
CD40 Agonistic Antibody Provides Critical Signals for T-cell Activation
CD40 agonistic antibody activates tumor-specific CD8+ T cells by enhancing antigen processing and presentation to T-cell, and providing co-stimulatory signals (CD80, CD86 and IL-12)
APX601- Anti-TNFR2 Antagonist mAb
TNFR2 is specifically upregulated on suppressive regulatory cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) and is important for tumor survival, representing a promising target for cancer immunotherapy. APX601 is a novel TNFR2 antagonist antibody designed to reverse immune suppression in the TME and unleash immune-mediated tumor killing activity through a unique mechanism of action. Apexigen believes APX601 can deplete and inactivate TNFR2-expressing Tregs, reverse myeloid-mediated T cell suppression and directly kill TNFR2-expressing tumor cells. In preclinical models, APX601 has demonstrated anti-tumor activity. Apexigen is developing APX601 for the treatment of multiple tumor indications of unmet medical need.
TNFR2 Antagonist Antibody Reverses Immune Suppression in the Tumor Microenvironment
APXiMAB™ Discovery Platform
Apexigen is utilizing the great diversity of rabbit antibodies as a rich source for the discovery, generation and humanization of proprietary therapeutic monoclonal antibodies to address high-value disease targets. APXiMAB™, our proprietary antibody discovery platform, consists of the Company’s rabbit monoclonal antibody and Mutation Lineage Guided humanization technologies. Antibodies discovered using APXiMAB™ have demonstrated high affinity, high specificity and high stability. Apexigen is applying the diversity inherent to its discovery platform to produce potentially best-in-class leads with the potential of superior attributes and improved safety profiles, and new classes of humanized antibodies against challenging and previously intractable targets.
APXiMAB™ has enabled Apexigen to build its own antibody pipeline focused on new immuno-oncology product candidates, as well as to form partnerships with numerous pharmaceutical companies for the development and commercialization of protein therapeutics discovered using the APXiMAB™ platform.