Triumvira Immunologics and Lonza Announce Collaboration to Develop Innovative Point-of-Care Manufacturing for TAC T-Cell Therapeutic Targeting Solid Tumors

• Collaboration between Triumvira Immunologics and Lonza will leverage the innovative Cocoon® Platform for novel TAC01-HER2 program
• TAC01-HER2 cells will be tested in an early stage clinical trial targeting solid tumors

Quote from Paul Lammers, MD, MSc., President and CEO of Triumvira:

“Given the challenges of manufacturing existing cell therapies, we believe it is critical to leverage innovative technology to automate manufacturing processes to improve consistency, accelerate logistics, reduce footprint, and reduce cost. Additionally, as our novel TAC technology exhibits a strong rationale for treating solid tumors, having a manufacturing process that, once commercialized, could be used at point-of-care would be vital to conveniently deliver cell therapy to patients given the high incidence of solid tumors.”

Quote from Eytan Abraham, Head of Personalized Medicine, Lonza Pharma & Biotech:

“We are thrilled to be collaborating with Triumvira to accelerate and enable bringing novel cancer immunotherapies to the clinic and patients. We are leveraging the Cocoon Platform, coupled with the array of R&D and manufacturing capabilities and expertise that Lonza brings to the table, to accelerate the path to the clinic and commercial approval. Our focus is on doing this in a way that will allow these novel therapies to be manufactured reliably, reproducibly, at the needed scale and a sustainable cost.”

AUSTIN, Texas; HAMILTON, Ontario & BASEL, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Triumvira Immunologics, Inc. (Triumvira), a private, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a novel platform for engineering T-cells to attack cancers, and Lonza, a leading cell & gene therapy manufacturer, announced today that the companies have an agreement in place.

This collaboration, aimed at the development of Triumvira’s TAC01-HER2 T-cell therapy for treating solid tumors, will leverage Lonza’s expertise in process development and the usage of its proprietary Cocoon® Platform. This automated patient-scale cell therapy manufacturing platform offers flexibility to execute a wide variety of protocols within a single system is enabled through a single-use, highly customizable cassette and custom programming.

Immunotherapy, particularly T-cell products, belong to the most potent drugs that could overcome the complex barriers encountered in solid tumors. However, current T-cell approaches remain insufficiently effective. The TAC receptor represents a significant advancement, providing a novel mechanism of T-cell activation, leading to improved anti-tumor responses in solid tumor models.

TAC01-HER2 has demonstrated encouraging and repeated safety and efficacy in multiple preclinical models of HER2-overexpressing tumors. Within this collaboration, TAC01-HER2 will initially be tested in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial examining different HER2-overexpressing solid tumors.

About Triumvira Immunologics

Triumvira Immunologics, Inc. (“Triumvira”) is a clinical stage immunotherapy company with the vision of developing novel T-cell therapies that are safer and more efficacious than current cell therapy cancer treatments, including chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and engineered T-cell receptor (TCR) therapies.

Our proprietary T-cell Antigen Coupler (TAC) technology recruits the entire natural T-cell receptor and functions independent of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC), allowing for the development of better therapies for a broader range of patients with solid or liquid malignancies and with diseases other than cancer. With operations spanning North America, our corporate offices are in Austin, Texas, with our research facilities in Hamilton, Ontario.

For more information, visit www.triumvira.com or send email inquiries to partners@triumvira.com.

About Lonza

Lonza is an integrated solutions provider that creates value along the Healthcare Continuum^®. Through our Pharma Biotech & Nutrition segment and our Specialty Ingredients segment businesses, we harness science and technology to serve markets along this continuum. We focus on creating a healthy environment, promoting a healthier lifestyle and preventing illness through consumers’ preventive healthcare, as well as improving patient healthcare by supporting our customers to deliver innovative medicines that help treat or even cure severe diseases.

Patients and consumers benefit from our ability to transfer our pharma know-how to the healthcare, hygiene and fast-moving consumer goods environment and to the preservation and protection of the world where we live.

Founded in 1897 in the Swiss Alps, Lonza today is a well-respected global company with more than 100 sites and offices and approximately 15,500 full-time employees worldwide at the end of 2018. The company generated sales of CHF 5.5 billion in 2018 with a CORE EBITDA of CHF 1.5 billion. Further information can be found at www.lonza.com.

Additional Information and Disclaimer

Lonza Group Ltd has its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. It has a secondary listing on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (“SGX-ST”). Lonza Group Ltd is not subject to the SGX-ST’s continuing listing requirements but remains subject to Rules 217 and 751 of the SGX-ST Listing Manual.

Certain matters discussed in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and estimates of Lonza Group Ltd, although Lonza Group Ltd can give no assurance that these expectations and estimates will be achieved. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainty and are qualified in their entirety. The actual results may differ materially in the future from the forward-looking statements included in this news release due to various factors. Furthermore, except as otherwise required by law, Lonza Group Ltd disclaims any intention or obligation to update the statements contained in this news release.

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