Beijing and Guangzhou, China, September 15, 2022 -- Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals (Beijing) Co., Ltd. ("Biocytogen", HKEX: 02315) announced a collaboration with Guangzhou FineImmune Biotechnology Co., LTD. (“FineImmune”) to co-develop cell-based therapeutic drugs targeting intracellular tumor antigens. Biocytogen will use its proprietary TCR-mimic antibody platform to discover fully human antibody sequences that will be further developed into cell therapies via FineImmune’s unique platform.
Biocytogen’s TCR-mimic antibody development platform utilizes its proprietary fully human antibody RenMiceTM (RenMabTM and RenLite® mice) that have been further engineered to express a human leukocyte antigen (HLA) gene. Antibodies against intracellular tumor antigens are subjected to advanced high-throughput antibody screening technologies to discover antibodies with high specificity and affinity.
“Most tumor antigens are intracellular, and our TCR-mimic platform provides a solution for developing antibodies against these valuable targets,” said Dr. Yuelei Shen, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Biocytogen. “TCR-mimic antibodies generated by our TCR-mimic platform have potentials to be developed into multiple drug modalities such as T cell engagers, bispecific/multispecific antibodies and CAR-T therapies. We are pleased to collaborate with FineImmune to explore the application of our antibodies in the field of cell therapies.”
FineImmune is a pioneering T cell therapy company solved critical barriers in the microenvironment of solid tumors through multiple proprietary technique platforms, such as GSOP for T-cell engineering, HAP for TCR identification, CMP for personalized TCR-T cell production and in vivo T-cell delivery platform (TDP). FineImmune’s product pipelines include TCR-T, CAR-T, TAL, TIL, etc. The company developed the first personalized neoantigen-specific TCR-T cell therapy, which is in phase I clinical trial now. In addition, FineImmune possesses diagnositc technologies for the precision prediction of the efficacy and side effects of immunotherapy, enabling healthcare professionals to provide effective and safe immunotherapy to patients with common malignant tumors.
“T cells play a cruicial role in cancer immunotherapy. Biocytogen’s advanced TCR-mimic platform makes it possible for us to develop T cell therapies against low-expressed intracellular tumor antigens,” said Dr. Penghui Zhou, Founder and Chief Technology Officer of FineImmune. “Our collaboration with Biocytogen is an important step toward our goal of providing efficient and safe immunotherapy for solid tumors. The increased number of targetable tumor antigens will definitely benefit more patients.”
About the TCR-Mimic Platform
Biocytogen’s T Cell Receptor (TCR)-Mimic platform utilizes HLA-expressing fully human antibody mice (HLA/RenMice) to generate antibodies to intracellular tumor-associated antigens when immunized with MHC-antigen-peptide complexes. Subsequently, Biocytogen’s high-throughput antibody screening platform aims to swiftly identify TCR-mimic antibodies with higher specificity and affinity than endogenous TCRs derived from patients. Currently, antibody sequences against multiple intracellular targets have been obtained, and their efficacies have been verified in vitro and in vivo. Fully human antibody sequences obtained from the TCR-mimic platform can empower the development of T cell engagers, bispecific/multispecific antibodies, and CAR-T therapies.
About Biocytogen
Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals (Beijing) Co., Ltd. is a global biotechnology company that drives the research and development of novel antibody-based drugs with innovative technologies. Using its proprietary RenMabTM /RenLite® mice platforms for fully human monoclonal and bispecific antibody development, Biocytogen has integrated its in vivo drug efficacy screening platforms and strong clinical development expertise to streamline the entire drug development process. Biocytogen is undertaking a large-scale project to develop antibody drugs for more than 1000 targets, known as Project Integrum, and has entered ongoing collaborations with dozens of partners worldwide to produce a variety of first-in-class and/or best-in-class antibody drugs. The company's pipeline includes 12 core products, among which two products are in phase II multi-regional clinical trials and two products are in phase I. Headquartered in Beijing, Biocytogen has branches in Haimen Jiangsu, Shanghai, Boston, USA and Heidelberg, Germany. On September 1, 2022, Biocytogen was listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited with the stock code: 02315.HK. For more information, please visit http://en.biocytogen.com.cn.
About FineImmune
Guangzhou FineImmune Biotechnology Co., Ltd. is an innovation driven company based in China. The company is engaged in the development of immunotherapies and drugs for solid tumors. It has solved key technical bottlenecks restraining cell therapy in solid tumors. The piplines have more than 20 products in cell therapy and immuno diagnositics, including the first TCR-T cell therapy targeting personalized neoantigens. Many of them are in clinical trial now. For more information, please visit http://www.fineimmu.com/.
Biocytogen’s Contact Information
Platform and Assets: BD-Licensing@biocytogen.com
Media: pr@bbctg.com.cn
