Elicio Therapeutics Completes Merger with Angion Biomedica

BOSTON, June 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Elicio Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ELTX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a pipeline of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, today announced the closing of its previously announced merger with Angion Biomedica Corp. The combined company will operate under the name Elicio Therapeutics, and its shares will commence trading on a 1-10 reverse split adjusted basis on June 2, 2023, on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbol “ELTX”.

“Joining the Nasdaq stock exchange through the reverse merger with Angion marks a significant milestone in Elicio’s growth. We remain on track as we advance our proprietary lymph node-targeting Amphiphile (AMP) technology to develop cancer immunotherapies,” said Robert Connelly, Chief Executive Officer of Elicio. “Looking to the future, our focus is on developing ELI-002 as a treatment for mutant KRAS (mKRAS)-driven cancers. We are conducting clinical studies evaluating the 2-peptide and 7-peptide formulations of ELI-002 and are encouraged by the interim data that will be presented at ASCO, supporting ELI-002’s potential clinical utility in patients with high relapse risk pancreatic and colorectal cancers.”

Elicio will focus on the advancement of its clinical development program, ELI-002, a therapeutic cancer vaccine designed with Elicio’s proprietary lymph node-targeting AMP technology. ELI-002 is being evaluated in the AMPLIFY-201 Phase 1 trial (NCT04853017) and a Phase 1/2 study AMPLIFY-7P (NCT05726864) in patients with mKRAS-driven solid tumors.

The management team of Elicio has become the management team of the combined company, led by Robert Connelly as Chief Executive Officer. The board of directors is comprised of nine directors including Mr. Connelly and Angion’s former President and Chief Executive Officer, Jay Venkatesan, MD, MBA. Following the reverse stock split and closing of the merger, there will be approximately 9.7 million shares of the combined company’s common stock outstanding on a fully-diluted basis, with prior Elicio shareholders owning approximately 65.2% and prior Angion shareholders owning 34.8%.

Oppenheimer & Co., Inc served as financial advisor and Cooley LLP provided legal counsel to Angion. Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. and Goulston & Storrs PC provided legal counsel to Elicio.

About Elicio Therapeutics

Elicio Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a pipeline of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. By combining expertise in immunology and immunotherapy, Elicio is engineering investigational Amphiphile (AMP) immunotherapies intended to precisely target and fully engage the lymph nodes, the site in our bodies where the immune response is orchestrated. Elicio is engineering lymph node-targeted AMPlifiers, immunomodulators, adjuvants and vaccines for an array of aggressive cancers and infectious diseases.

Elicio began dosing subjects in AMPLIFY-201, its Phase 1 clinical trial in solid tumor subjects for its lead AMP vaccine, ELI-002 2P, targeting mKRAS-driven cancers, in October 2021 and began dosing subjects with the new formulation, ELI-002 7P, in April 2023. The AMP platform emerged from the laboratories of Darrell Irvine, Howard Hughes Investigator and Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Koch Institute of Integrative Cancer Research at MIT.

About ELI-002

ELI-002 is a structurally novel investigational AMP therapeutic vaccine targeting mutant KRAS-driven cancers. KRAS mutations are among the most prevalent human cancers. The seven KRAS driver mutations targeted by ELI-002 7P formulation are present in 25% of all solid tumors. In particular, 93% of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and 52% of colorectal cancers, those most prevalent in the AMPLIFY-201 study, are positive for KRAS mutations. In addition, 27% of non-small cell lung cancers are positive for KRAS mutations. ELI-002 is comprised of AMP-modified mutant KRAS peptide antigens and ELI-004, an AMP-modified immune-stimulatory oligonucleotide CpG adjuvant. The AMP mKRAS peptides and AMP CpG are targeted to the lymph node where they can potentially enhance the action of key immune cells.

ELI-002 2P is currently being studied in a Phase 1 trial (AMPLIFY-201) in patients with high relapse risk mKRAS-driven solid tumors, following surgery and chemotherapy. A new formulation, ELI-002 7P, is currently being studied in AMPLIFY-7P, a Phase 1/2 trial in patients with high relapse risk mKRAS-driven solid tumors. The ELI-002 7P formulation is designed to provide immune response coverage against seven of the most common KRAS mutations, thereby increasing the potential patient population for ELI-002 and potentially reducing the chance of bypass resistance mechanisms.

About the Amphiphile Platform

Our proprietary Amphiphile, or AMP, platform delivers investigational immunotherapeutics directly to the “brain center” of the immune system – the lymph nodes. We believe this site-specific delivery of disease-specific antigens, adjuvants and other immunomodulators may efficiently educate, activate and amplify critical immune cells, potentially resulting in induction and persistence of potent adaptive immunity required to treat many diseases. In preclinical models, we have observed lymph node-specific engagement driving therapeutic immune responses of increased magnitude, function and durability. We believe our AMP lymph node-targeted approach will produce superior clinical benefits compared to immunotherapies that do not engage the lymph nodes based upon preclinical studies.

Our AMP platform, originally developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, has broad potential across cancers, infectious diseases and other disease indications to advance a number of development initiatives through internal activities, in-licensing arrangements or development collaborations and partnerships.

The Amphiphile platform has been shown to deliver immunotherapeutics directly to the lymph nodes by latching on to the protein albumin, found in the bloodstream, as it travels to lymphatic tissue. In preclinical models, we have observed lymph node-specific engagement driving immune responses of increased magnitude, function and durability.