Background: Tumor-targeted drug delivery technologies are urgently needed to overcome conventional chemotherapy’s lack of tumor selectivity. Alphalex conjugates, which contain a pH-low insertion peptide (pHLIP), a linker and a payload, are designed to overcome this lack of selectivity. Unlike antibody drug conjugates, alphalex PDCs target tumors in an antigen-agnostic manner. At pH ≥7.0, the peptide is unstructured. In the low-pH tumor microenvironment the peptide forms an alpha helix and inserts directionally into the tumor cell membrane delivering the linker and payload intracellularly where the linker is cleaved releasing the payload in the cytosol. CBX-12 consists of the pH-sensitive peptide, a self-immolating linker, and the topoisomerase 1 (TOP1) inhibitor exatecan. Methods: In this Phase 1 trial, cohorts of pts were treated with escalating doses of CBX-12 in a 3 + 3 design on three dosing schedules: daily x 5 every 3 weeks, daily x 3 every 3 weeks or once weekly. The primary objectives are safety, tolerability and to determine the MTD and/or RP2D. Secondary and exploratory objectives include evaluation of plasma PK of CBX-12 and exatecan, anti-tumor activity per RECIST v1.1, and measurement of anti-drug antibodies. Results: As of 26 Jan 2023, 42 pts have been treated on three schedules. The most frequent treatment-related AEs (TRAEs) were anaemia (42.9%), nausea (38.1%), fatigue (33.3%), ANC and WBC decreased (33.3% each), vomiting (26.2%), diarrhoea (23.8%) and thrombocytopenia (19.0%). The most frequent Gr3/4 TRAEs were ANC decreased (28.6%), anemia (23.8%), WBC decrease (16.7%), thrombocytopenia (14.3%). Dose limiting toxicity was observed in 6 pts: myelosuppression (6 pts) febrile neutropenia (2 pts), and sepsis (2 pts). Responses were observed in 2 of 9 pts with ovarian cancer and 2 of 8 with breast cancer. The MTD on the daily x 3 schedule is 45mg/m². Dose evaluation continues on the weekly schedule. Conclusions: In this FIH study of a pH-targeting alphalex PDC, CBX-12 demonstrated single-agent antitumor activity including 4 responses with the dominant toxicity of myelosuppression. Phase 2 expansion cohorts are planned in pts with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer and hormone-receptor positive, HER2 negative breast cancer. Clinical trial information: NCT04902872.