On November 6, 2018, Codiak BioSciences, Inc., a leading exosome therapeutics company, announced results from preclinical studies demonstrating the potential of Codiak's proprietary engineered exosome therapeutic, exoSTING. exoSTING is composed of precision engineered exosomes loaded with a potent small molecule STING (stimulator of interferon genes) agonist. The precision engineering of exoSTING provides for selective, preferential STING delivery to antigen presenting cells (APCs). In these preclinical studies, exoSTING generated potent, targeted, and sustained antitumor immunity - including in metastatic tumors - without systemic elevation of toxic cytokines. These data were presented on Saturday, November 10th at the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) (https://www.sitcancer.org/events/event-description?CalendarEventKey=a48f6a71-0cb2-459a-92b9-3c9a9580d753) in Washington, DC, in a poster entitled, "Selective Delivery of Exosome-Mediated STING Agonist to Antigen Presenting Cells Results in Significantly Improved Potency and Reduced Toxicity" (#P618 ). "These studies highlight the unique profile of exoSTING to selectively activate the STING pathway in tumor-resident APCs, without toxic systemic cytokine elevation," said Douglas Williams, PhD, President and CEO of Codiak. "The potent T cell-mediated antitumor immune responses elicited with very low doses of STING agonists are the result of the rational drug design of exoSTING created using our proprietary exosome engineering platform, engEX™. In contrast with free STING agonists, exoSTING is highly potent, is not compromised by systemic cytokine production, and preserves the viability of T cells and antigen presenting cells, thereby markedly improving the therapeutic window.Login Or Register To Read Full Story