Akamis Bio announced today that it will present encouraging preliminary data from the ongoing Phase 1b FORTRESS study of NG-350A in mismatch repair proficient (pMMR) locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) at AACR 2026. Data from the first ten patients to complete the 12-week active treatment period showed that the company’s oncolytic immunotherapy, NG-350A, combined with chemoradiotherapy demonstrated a composite response rate (clinical complete response and near clinical complete response) of 50%. This represents a significant increase over the benchmark composite response rate of 25% expected with CRT alone in pMMR LARC. These early FORTRESS data provide the first key evidence of clinical proof of concept for NG-350A plus CRT in pMMR LARC and highlight the potential to advance the standard of care, offering more patients access to a non-operative approach to management of their disease, as well as the opportunity for organ preservation – a critically important treatment goal as LARC continues to impact increasingly younger patient populations. See today’s news here: akamisbio.com/news/akamis-bi… See the AACR poster here: akamisbio.com/science-pipeli…
