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Immatics Biotechnologies is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company leading the development of advanced immunotherapies that are active against cancer. Cancer immunotherapy is still severely constrained by the lack of novel targets. Immatics overcomes this by applying its target discovery engine XPRESIDENT® to identify and validate antigens specific to cancer cells. These antigens, also called Tumor-Associated Peptides (TUMAPs), are able to activate T cells which are responsible for identifying and destroying cancer cells. These well characterized TUMAPs can be used as targets for all of the most promising cancer immunotherapy approaches including Adoptive Cell Therapies (ACT), soluble T Cell Receptors (TCRs), Antibodies and Cancer Vaccines. The US based Immatics US, Inc., launched in Aug. 2015, is focused on the development of three ACT approaches for the treatment of tumors with high unmet medical needs: ACTolog™, ACTengine™, and ACTallo™ in close collaboration with leading scientists at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, who contribute their long-term ACT expertise. The first ACT products are expected to enter the clinic in 2016. Immatics signed a strategic cancer immunotherapy collaboration with Roche in November 2013 to research, develop and commercialize a number of new cancer peptide antigen-based immunotherapies. In addition, Immatics is engaged in the development of soluble T-cell receptor (sTCR) approaches as well as monoclonal antibodies (mABs) directed towards XPRESIDENT® targets. The latter will be pursued in a strategic alliance with MorphoSys. Immatics is further conducting the clinical development of fully personalized therapeutic cancer vaccines, Glioma Actively Personalized VAccine Consortium (GAPVAC; an EU-funded consortium) in collaboration with BioNTech. Immatics GmbH is based in Tübingen, Germany, with a headcount of approximately 90 people. Immatics US, Inc. is based in Houston, Texas, USA, and currently employs approximately 15 people.
XOMA is a late-stage biotechnology company with a diverse portfolio of innovative therapeutic antibodies. The Company has built an expertise in allosteric modulation and has applied that expertise to expand the therapeutic potential of monoclonal antibodies. The first compound from XOMA’s allosteric modulating antibody program is gevokizumab, an IL-1 beta modulating antibody. XOMA has partnered with SERVIER, a global pharmaceutical company based in France, to develop and commercialize gevokizumab for the global market, and the companies are conducting a global Phase 3 program in people with Behçet’s disease uveitis and non-infectious uveitis. Each company also has a proof-of-concept (POC) clinical program in place to identify other IL-1 mediated diseases that could be treated with gevokizumab. One of these POC studies led XOMA to select its next Phase 3 indication, pyoderma gangrenosum, a rare ulcerative skin disease. XOMA`s scientific research also produced the XMet program, which consists of three classes of preclinical allosteric modulating antibodies, including Selective Insulin Receptor Modulators (SIRMs) that could have a major impact on the treatment of diabetes. XOMA will retain the compound that has potential to treat several rare insulin dysfunction-related diseases and to out-license the compounds that could address the diabetes markets.
Frontier Medicines is a pre-clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing breakthrough medicines that redefine the course of debilitating diseases. According to the American Cancer Society, 1,762,000 new cancer cases and 607,000 deaths from cancer are expected to occur in the US in 2019. Our focus is developing treatments against important cancer-causing proteins that the biopharma industry hasn`t found a way to treat (or “drug”) with pharmaceutical interventions. After decades of research, this has become one of the most critical challenges in addressing human disease and advancing oncology therapy --central to the research at Frontier Medicines. Frontier Medicines is using chemoproteomics – an innovative approach to chemically interrogate proteins in living systems – to discover and pharmacologically target new binding pockets (or “hotspots”) on proteins, making them accessible to small-molecule drug discovery and development. The company`s proprietary chemoproteomics platform also integrates advanced computational approaches and machine learning to further accelerate the path to drug discovery.
Tango Therapeutics is a biotechnology company discovering and developing novel medicines targeting cancer vulnerabilities to deliver transformational new therapies for patients. Tango was launched in 2017 with a $55 million Series A investment from Third Rock Ventures. The company has established a robust product engine that leverages advances in DNA sequencing and CRISPR-based target discovery to generate breakthrough medicines that have the potential to provide deeper, more sustained benefit than today`s targeted therapies, and extend the benefit of available immuno-oncology agents. Tango Therapeutics is focused on three areas of drug development, each in well-defined patient populations currently lacking effective treatment options, and each with hallmarks of cancer that have not been targeted yet. These include: loss of tumor suppressor gene function; multiple oncogenic drivers; and immune evasion. What fuels each of Tango`s programs is an increasingly sophisticated ability to utilize synthetic lethality - the interaction between two genes that causes cell death when both are inactivated. In cancer cells, one of these genes is inactivated by mutation; the other will be inactivated by a drug. This approach leaves normal cells largely unaffected, with the potential to greatly enhance anti-tumor efficacy and reduce associated toxicity. Tango`s success will be driven by its depth of understanding of the genetic subtypes of cancer, and corresponding insights into novel drug targets and combinations uniquely relevant to each subtype. By shaping discovery efforts in this way, Tango has the potential to reach the clinic quickly, and with a clear plan for identifying the patients most likely to benefit from each new treatment, an approach that could increase both speed and probability of success in translating novel target discoveries into transformational new medicines for patients.
Swift Biosciences is a biotechnology company that is developing novel molecular biology technologies to better characterize and understand the genome. We are an energetic, highly innovative company focused on creating tools to advance the DNA sequencing sciences. Our products are designed to help customers analyze challenging samples that are often associated with translational work, including circulating, cell-free DNA and formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples.