Palleon Pharmaceuticals, a company pioneering the field of glyco-immunology to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared the company’s investigational new drug (IND) application for its lead candidate E-602. This clearance paves the way for Palleon’s first-in-class cancer immunotherapy which targets immunosuppressive sialoglycans to enter clinical testing.

 “We are proud to have reached this milestone in advancing glyco-immunology from a promising, nascent scientific field to an entirely new class of medicines,” said Jim Broderick, M.D., Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Palleon. “We continue to leverage our unrivaled expertise in glycobiology drug discovery and development to expand our product pipeline in the pursuit of better therapies for patients with cancer and inflammatory diseases.”

E-602 is a first-in-class engineered human sialidase enzyme genetic fusion from Palleon’s EAGLE platform which is designed to desialylate both immune cells and tumor cells, potentiating an anti-tumor immune response. Palleon’s Phase 1/2 trial of E-602 is expected to begin enrolling patients with solid tumors refractory to standard of care in Q1 2022.