Problem Solving Breakout Discussions

Preclinical and Translational Immuno-Oncology

In Silico Modelling in IO, How Useful and Predictive?

Moderator: Armin Sepp, PhD, Scientific Leader and GSK Fellow, IVIVT DMPK Modelling, GlaxoSmithKline

• Target engagement in combination and bispecific therapies, when can one or the other be preferred?
• Tumour penetration of biotherapeutics
• Drug interactions with innate and adaptive immune system cells

How Can We Leverage Cutting Edge In Vivo Pre-Clinical Models for Cancer Immunotherapy Profiling?

Moderator: Sara Colombetti, PhD, Global Head of Oncology Discovery Pharmacology, Pharma Research and Early Development (pRED), Roche Innovation Center Zurich

• Current limitations of pre-clinical mouse models for cancer immuno-therapy
• How can CPI resistant patient population can be modeled pre-clinically
• New frontiers of tumor immuno-profiling

Biomarkers for Immuno-Oncology

Why Digital Biomarkers?

Moderator: Daniel R. Karlin, MD, MA, CEO, HealthMode, Inc.

• What measurements are improved with digital tools?
• Better, Faster, More Robust? Sorting hype from reality in digital tools
• Regulatory aspects and challenges

Immunotherapies Beyond Melanoma and Lung Cancers

Moderator: Sheeba Irshad, MD, PhD, Senior Clinical Lecturer, Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kings College London

• Strategies for converting cold tumours into hot tumours
• Coordinated clinical trial designs of immunotherapies
• Immunotherapy combinations

Immunomodulatory Approaches

The Tumour Microenvironment (TME) And Its Ability to Influence Monoclonal Antibody Effector Functions

Moderator: Sophia N. Karagiannis, BA, MS, PhD, Professor, Translational Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy, School of Basic & Medical Biosciences, King’s College London

• Antibody engagement of effector cells in the TME
• The role of cancer cells in influencing the modulatory state of effector cells and Fc receptors
• Engineering of antibodies to overcome immunosuppressive forces in the TME

Combination Immunotherapy

What Are the Mechanisms of Immune Exclusion and What We Need to Know About Them?

Moderator: Franco Marincola, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, Refuge Biotechnologies

• Discuss the kind of barriers that prevent T cells from infiltrating tumors
• Physical barriers
• Functional barriers
• Dynamic barriers

How do we Effectively Develop Immunotherapy Combinations for Cancer?

Moderator: Johan Lantto, PhD, Project and Portfolio Director, Immuno-Oncology, Symphogen

• Immunotherapy has shown impressive results in various cancer indications, however, only a subset of patients respond to single agent therapy.
• Combination immunotherapy presents an opportunity for improving responses and outcomes for cancer patients.
• The development of immunotherapy combinations faces a number of preclinical, clinical and regulatory challenges, which will be discussed in the breakout session.

Bispecific Antibody Design and Applications

Immunogenicity of Bispecific Antibodies

Moderator: Anne Mansson-Kvarnhammar, PhD, Senior Scientist, Alligator Bioscience AB

• What challenges could one expect for novel bispecific scaffolds in terms of immunogenicity?
• What can be done to test this early to avoid immunogenicity in the clinic?
• What is the usefulness and “predictability” of in silico and in vitro assays to predict clinical immunogenicity of IO antibodies?

Going Beyond Bispecifics – Trispecific Antibodies and Other “Multispecific” Approaches

Moderator: Matthew J. Bernett, PhD, Associate Director, Protein & Antibody Engineering, Xencor, Inc.

• What are the opportunities for using multispecifics
• What challenges would one expect for multispecifics
• Which benefits are expected when using multispecifics
• Which approaches are enabled by multispecifics and which ones remain impossible?

CARs, TILs, TCRs

Novel Strategies for Overcoming Antigen Heterogeneity for Enhancing CAR T Cell Efficacy

Moderator: Phil Darcy, PhD, Professor, NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, Laboratory Head Cancer Immunotherapy, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

• Preclinical work using armored CAR T cells. Discussion of different cytokines that have been used in this format.
• Discussion of strategy using dual expressing CAR T cells to overcome antigen heterogeneity.
• Translational feasibility of these new approaches

Are Innate Immune Cells More Tolerant of the Tumour Microenvironment than T Cells?

Moderator: Mark Lowdell, PhD, Director, Centre for Cell, Gene & Tissue Therapeutics, RFH; Professor, Cell & Tissue Therapy, University College London

• Effects of hypoxia on NK, CAR-NK, Gamma delta T cell and monocyte activation
• Direct and indirect effects of Treg on NK function
• Role of MDSC in innate immune suppression in the TME