Gothenburg, March 6, 2024 – Elicera Therapeutics AB (publ), a clinical stage cell and gene therapy company developing next generation cancer treatments based on its proprietary commercial technology platform iTANK, announces today that the company has entered a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) with a prominent US Center. Via the agreement, the enhancing effect of the iTANK-technology will be evaluated in a novel T-cell receptor therapy targeting skin cancer and lung cancer.
As per the agreement, Elicera Therapeutics will make parts of its proprietary technology iTANK available to a medical oncologist and researcher at the US Cancer Center whose investigation focuses on the development of novel immunotherapies. Within the scope of the agreement, the iTANK-platform will be used to arm a novel CD4-directed T-cell receptor therapy (TCR-T), which will be evaluated in preclinical proof-of-concept studies targeting melanoma and lung cancer.
The studies, which will be funded and conducted by the US Cancer Center, will evaluate the therapy’s effect on tumor growth and activation of other immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. The research findings will be published by responsible researcher, and Elicera Therapeutics has the right to utilize the data in its internal project development as well as commercialization activities, including licensing agreements.
”We are excited to enter this collaboration with this well-established US Cancer Center, to be named upon publication of the research results. A collaboration with an academic partner of such prominence not only provides an increased scientific understanding but also puts Elicera on the map in an ecosystem that includes thought leaders in clinical cell and gene therapy. Importantly, the collaboration will give us key insights into the potential of broader applicability of the iTANK-platform, as it will be investigated for arming a T-cell receptor therapy, an important complement to previous studies arming studies performed exclusively in CAR T-cells,” says Jamal El-Mosleh, CEO of Elicera Therapeutics.
For further information, please contact:
Jamal El-Mosleh, CEO, Elicera Therapeutics AB (publ)
Phone: +46 (0) 703 31 90 51
jamal.elmosleh@elicera.com
Certified Advisor
Carnegie Investment Bank AB (publ)
The information was submitted for publication distributed through the contact person above at 08:30 CET on March 6, 2024.
About the iTANK platform
The iTANK technology platform has been developed for arming and enhancing CAR T-cells to meet two of the major challenges CAR T-cell therapies face in the treatment of solid tumors: a very diverse set of tumor antigen targets and a very hostile tumor microenvironment. The technology is used to incorporate a transgene into CAR T-cells encoding a neutrophil activating bacterial protein (NAP). NAP secreted from the CAR(NAP) T-cells has been shown to be able to enhance the function of CAR T-cells and importantly activating a parallel bystander immune response against the cancer via CD8+ killer T-cells. This is expected to lead to a broad attack against most antigen targets on cancer cells. The iTANK platform is used to enhance the company’s own CAR T-cells but can also be universally applied to other CAR T-cell therapies under development. Proof-of-concept data was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering in April 2022. The publication, titled “CAR T cells expressing a bacterial virulence factor trigger potent bystander antitumour responses in solid cancers” (DOI number: 10.1038/s41551-022-00875-5) can be found here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-022-00875-5. More information about iTANK platform is available here: https://www.elicera.com/technology
About Elicera Therapeutics AB
Elicera Therapeutics AB (publ) has developed the patented gene technology platform iTANK that enables the arming of new and existing CAR T-cell therapies targeting aggressive and relapsing cancer forms. Elicera Therapeutics thereby addresses a well-defined and vast market. The company’s CAR T-cell therapies have shown a potent effect toward solid tumors which are recognized as particularly difficult to treat and constitute the majority of cancer cases. The company addresses a global multibillion market in cell therapy through its offering of non-exclusive licensing of the iTANK-platform to companies in the pharmaceutical industry. Elicera Therapeutics has four internal development projects in immune therapy that separately have the potential to generate substantial value through exclusive out-licensing agreements. The company’s share is traded on Nasdaq First North Growth Market. The company’s certified advisor is Carnegie Investment Bank AB (publ), www.carnegie.se. For additional information, visit www.elicera.com.