Biocytogen Announces Collaboration with FineImmune to Develop TCR-Mimic Antibody-Based Cell Therapy

BEIJING & GUANGZHOU, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (“Biocytogen”, HKEX: 02315) announced a strategic collaboration with Guangzhou FineImmune Biotechnology Co., LTD. (“FineImmune”) to co-develop cell-based therapeutic drugs targeting intracellular tumor-associated antigens. Biocytogen will use its proprietary TCR-mimic antibody platform to discover fully human antibody sequences that will be further developed using FineImmune’s unique cell therapy platform.

Biocytogen’s TCR-mimic antibody development platform utilizes its proprietary fully human antibody RenMice^TM (RenMab^TM and RenLite^® mice) that have been further engineered to express a human leukocyte antigen (HLA) gene. Antibodies against intracellular tumor-associated 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, and has solved multiple critical barriers in the microenvironment of solid tumors by using multiple proprietary technology 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 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 an important role in treating cancers. Biocytogen’s advanced TCR-mimic platform makes it possible for us to develop T cell therapies against crucial but low-expressed intracellular tumor antigens,” said Dr. Penghui Zhou, Founder and Chief Technology Officer of FineImmune. “We focus on providing efficient and safe immunotherapy using advanced technologies. This collaboration will promote the development of new cell therapeutic drugs and the expansion of the potential of immunotherapy to benefit 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 RenMab^TM /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 mainly engaged in the development of solid tumor immunotherapy drugs and related businesses. It has solved key technical bottlenecks in solid tumor immunotherapy and possesses core technologies. A number of T-cell therapy products for solid tumors are in clinical trials, as well as diagnostic reagents for accurate identification of effective populations. It has a 2000 square meter immunotherapy R&D laboratory and a GMP production workshop for cell therapy products in Guangzhou Science City. The company’s individualized TCR-T cell therapy product (new drug) has been carried out clinical research in the Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Sun Yat sen University. At present, more than 20 immune cell therapy products and technologies are under research and development. For more information, please visit http://www.fineimmu.com/.

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