Innate immune activators among first-in-human debuts at AACR

First-in-human compounds at this year’s AACR meeting included two innate immune activators whose targets are the focus of a cluster of early programs in the clinic, providing another signal that the compound class is earning a second chance in cancer.

Enthusiasm for cancer therapies that simulate STING, and other innate immune regulators such as toll-like receptors (TLRs), had waned after systemic delivery of first-generation compounds proved too toxic. The innate immune agonist class is now seeing a resurgence via more targeted delivery as antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) payloads...