Boehringer Ingelheim and OSE Immunotherapeutics SA (OSE), a clinical stage biotech company (ISIN: FR0012127173; Mnemo: OSE), announced that Boehringer will be progressing their first-in-class SIRPα immuno-oncology program into the next phase in clinical development. As part of the program, Boehringer will move forward with an improved next generation SIRPα inhibitor antibody, which will now be tested in a Phase 1b study.

Immuno-oncological therapies achieve sustained remission only in 15-20% of all cases of cancer. Boehringer Ingelheim is on a mission to significantly increase this share. With its immuno-oncology research, Boehringer is developing various complementary approaches to activate the immune system against cancer cells. Blocking the SIRPα immune checkpoint is one of these approaches.

“We are very excited about progressing the SIRPα program which was initiated by OSE.” said Vittoria Zinzalla, Global Head of Translational Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology at Boehringer Ingelheim. “With the positive data from our first clinical studies and the switch to an improved antibody we hope to achieve our aim of accelerating and expanding our pipeline of first-in-class cancer therapies to transform the lives of patients affected by cancer.”

Nicolas Poirier, CEO of OSE Immunotherapeutics, commented: “We are thrilled to see the SIRPα project moving forward in clinical development in immuno-oncology and the expansion in CRM diseases. This brings us one step closer to achieving our aim of providing this selective SIRPα innovation for the benefit of more patients.”

SIRPα is a receptor expressed on macrophages, which can recognize, engulf, and destroy cancer cells. The binding of this receptor to its binding partner, cluster of differentiation 47 (CD47), stops this immune activity. This is why many cancer cells display CD47 on their surface to escape detection and destruction by the immune system. Blocking SIRPα enables macrophages to enhance their immune activity and destroy cancer cells.

Boehringer Ingelheim is further strengthening its comprehensive immuno-oncology pipeline with the progression of this program to accelerate next-generation cancer therapies to address high unmet patient needs. Boehringer will be solely responsible for all further development and potential future commercialization.