Biocytogen joins forces with CtM Bio to combine antibody tech

Published: 19-Apr-2022

The companies have collaborated to benefit from Biocytogen's proprietary TCR-mimic antibody development platform and CtM's proprietary T cell engager platform

Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals has announced a collaboration agreement with CtM Biotech to jointly develop innovative antibody drugs against intracellular tumour-associated antigens.

Under this agreement, Biocytogen will be responsible for screening fully human antibodies against specific targets by leveraging the company's proprietary TCR-mimic antibody development platform. CtM Bio will use their proprietary T cell engager platform to co-develop T cell engagers targeting intracellular tumour-associated antigens.

CtM Bio has developed a proprietary T cell engager platform with differentiated properties which is expected to turn "cold tumours" into "hot tumours"

Biocytogen's TCR-mimic antibody development platform, which utilises a strain of fully human RenMab mice expressing a human leukocyte antigen (HLA) gene, is designed to facilitate the discovery of antibodies against intracellular tumour-associated antigens.

CtM Bio has extensive experience in the discovery of innovative drug candidates for the treatment of life-threatening diseases. The company has developed a proprietary T cell engager platform with differentiated properties which is expected to turn "cold tumours" into "hot tumours", possibly overcoming the current limitation of immunotherapy.

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Under this collaboration, Biocytogen and CtM Bio will jointly promote the development of novel antibody drugs that could significantly expand the potential of immunotherapy, ultimately helping to improve the lives of patients suffering from cancer and other debilitating diseases.

The TCR-Mimic Platform

Biocytogen's T Cell Receptor (TCR)-Mimic platform utilises HLA-expressing fully human antibody mice (HLA/RenMabTM mice) to generate antibodies to intracellular tumour-associated antigens when immunised 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 hits for multiple intracellular targets are undergoing in vitro and in vivo characterisation. 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.

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