Exicure plans checkpoint combo after TLR9 drug clears early test

Exicure is set to move toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) agonist AST-008 into a phase 1b/2 trial after getting a look at data from healthy volunteers. The first-in-human clinical trial suggested that AST-008 is safe, tolerable and boosts cytokine levels.
AST-008, Exicure’s lead asset, is based on the same spherical nucleic acid (SNA) platform as the rest of the biotech’s pipeline. When applied to cancer, Exicure thinks the platform will lead to long, strong innate immune responses, making it a better bet in oncology than traditional immunostimulatory oligonucleotide-based approaches.