The anti-tumor activity of an ADC is seven times more efficient when combined with the ImmunoCellin internalization technology

BioCellChallenge SAS, a company specialized in the design and development of internalization technologies allowing biologic’s delivery into living cells, today presents the results of its study on the in vivo efficacy of a therapeutic Antibody Drug Conjugate (ADC) combined with ImmunoCellin. The results show that the efficacy of a therapeutic antibody used to treat breast cancer can be increased sevenfold in an intravenous injection.

The study was conducted in August 2016 on an animal model of breast cancer. It involved comparing the activity of an ADC, the Kadcyla (trastuzumab emtansine), on its own with the activity of the Kadycla combined with ImmunoCellin. A very significant difference in tumor progression was observed - the tests revealed that the anti-tumor treatment is seven times more efficient with ImmunoCellin. The animals showed no sign of toxicity at the doses administered intravenously to achieve this level of efficacy. ImmunoCellin has been developed and studied since 2009 and is the focus of many experiments demonstrating the internalization of an IgG antibody. A patent for this technology was filed in 2013. "ImmunoCellin allows a complexation of the antibody which can be delivered directly to the cytosol without passing through endosomes. The antibody remains active and binds to its receptor," said Martine Pillot, managing director of BioCellChallenge. "In experiments conducted in vitro, the antibody retained all of its specific features. The in vitro tests showed that the presence of ImmunoCellin increased the intracellular delivery of Kadcyla, while retaining a high affinity with the HER-2 receptor."

According to Prof. Hervé Watier, head of the immunology department at Tours University Hospital, director of the MAbImprove 'laboratory of excellence' and leader of the ARD 2020 Biomedicines program, BioCellChallenge's results are challenging: "We hardly dare think about the intracellular penetration of antibodies. What if we could?" Currently the development of therapeutic antibodies is mainly based on membrane approaches, while the differences between healthy cells and tumor cells primarily concern intracellular proteins. BioCellChallenge's technology, which allows an antibody to be internalized in the heart of the cancer cell, paves the way for the development of a large number of internalizing therapeutic antibodies and for the optimization of the antibodies and ADCs under development. Several universities and biotech companies have shown great interest in ImmunoCellin and would like to collaborate with BioCellChallenge to apply this technology to their own antibodies.

Positioned on the Next-Generation Antibody Therapeutics market, BioCellChallenge is  now looking for investors. The aim of these new therapeutic antibodies is to be more efficient, safer and better delivered. They represent a medical challenge and hold considerable potential for growth; the market, which mainly concerns oncology, could pass the €6 billion ($6.75bn) mark in 2022.

BioCellChallenge will be at the PEGS Summit from November 2 to 4, 2016 (Lisbon, Portugal), to present its technology in the context of new cancer treatments, and then at BIO Europe from November 7 to 9, 2016 (Cologne, Germany).

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