Advancing one of the most novel approaches in cell therapy.

T cells are an essential type of white blood cell in the immune system.

T cells are a population of different types of cells including so-called, alpha beta and gamma delta cells. They have the ability to eliminate tumors by using their T cell receptor (TCR) to identify cell surface markers known as cancer antigens, or tumor-associated antigens. Upon binding to an antigen, the TCR catalyzes a highly complex and broad signaling cascade that leads to T cell activation, proliferation, and tumor cell killing. In cancer patients, T cells frequently fail to either recognize or effectively engage cancer cells.

Current challenges in cell therapy.

T cell therapies attempt to replicate the mechanism of healthy T cells and trigger a more effective immune response to a specific cancer. However, no treatments have yet emerged as potential game changers in solid tumors due to a general lack of efficacy and high toxicity.

While chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) approaches have shown some success against hematological malignancies, they failed to produce good outcomes in solid tumors and are generally hampered by high toxicities. Natural TCR approaches have demonstrated some clinical activity against solid tumors, but generally provide limited tumor cell recognition due to their dependency on MHC molecules, which are frequently absent or downregulated in cancer cells.

Our technology attempts to overcome the barriers of current T cell therapies by harnessing the power of the natural TCR.

Our Technology

Empowering natural pathways for targeting cancer.

With a novel mechanism of action for enhancing the immune response, our T cell Antigen Coupler (TAC) may prove to be a major advancement in cell therapy.

Enables selective tumor cell recognition.

Activates T cells via the native TCR, leveraging all-natural activation and regulatory feedback mechanisms.

Effectively invades and eliminates solid tumors with low to minimal off-target toxicity.

Enables selective tumor cell recognition.

Activates T cells via the native TCR, leveraging all-natural activation and regulatory feedback mechanisms.

Effectively invades and eliminates solid tumors with low to minimal off-target toxicity.

Novel Targets

Applicable across multiple tumor types.

Our technology is highly versatile and can be readily combined with both existing and novel targets, including Claudin 18.2, GPC3 and GUCY2C. We are investigating both autologous and allogeneic applications of TAC T cells to these targets.

While our autologous approach employs patient-derived T cells and genetic engineering in the lab to create the TAC-T cell product, our allogeneic approach employs an “off-the-shelf” cell bank of non-gene edited gamma delta (γδ) T cells, which are a subset of the overall T cell population. They are extracted from a healthy donor and genetically engineered with TAC technology.

+46K

patients had HER2-expressing tumors in 2020*

+136K

patients succumbed to lung cancer in 2020, 2.5% of which were HER2-expressing*

+47K

patients succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 2020, 26% of which were HER2-expressing*

+43K

patients succumbed to breast cancer in 2020, 20% of which were HER2-expressing*

+11K

patients succumbed to stomach cancer in 2020, 20% of which were HER2-expressing*

+14K

patients succumbed to ovary cancer in 2020, 27% of which were HER2-expressing*


Sources: *Cancer Statistics 2020, American Cancer Society; Select Investment Bank