• Successful Proof of Concept for weaponizing exosomes for breast cancer treatment
• Advancing optimization of dosing and anti-tumor activity of exosomes
• Future milestones include further in vitro data in H1CY25 and in vivo efficacy data in H2CY25

Inoviq Limited (ASX:IIQ) has successfully completed stage 1 of its development program for an exosome therapeutic for breast cancer. In an in vitro proof-of-concept (POC) study, immortalized natural killer (NK) cells were engineered to continuously produce exosomes that specifically target and kill breast cancer cells. The targeting was achieved by incorporating a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) on the surface of the exosomes, which recognizes and binds to a protein overexpressed by breast cancer cells. This innovation allows the killing activity of CAR-NK-exosomes to be directly delivered to breast cancer cells, increasing therapeutic efficacy and reducing off-target effects. Inoviq's proprietary technology was utilized to isolate the CAR-exosomes released by the immortalized NK cells. Treatment of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells with the CAR-NK-exosomes resulted in dose-dependent cancer cell death, with the highest dose evaluated killing over 30% of the breast cancer cells and showing significantly greater efficacy than exosomes isolated from NK cells as reported in other studies. Inoviq has established a robust production process to prepare these therapeutic exosomes and will now enhance the tumor-killing activity by pre-stimulating the cells with activators. Optimal dosing and tumor-killing activity will then be evaluated in animal models, as a prequel to preclinical studies.

Inoviq will advance its exosome therapy through additional in vitro and in vivo studies next year, moving towards Investigational New Drug (IND) enabling studies and clinical trials.