Benzinga | Jun 29, 2021 08:33AM EDT

Selexis And KBI Biopharma Enter Into Agreements With Immatics For Integrated Approach To Advance Immatics TCR Bispecific Program Towards IND

Selexis SA and KBI Biopharma (KBI), both JSR Life Sciences companies, announced today that they have signed service agreements with Immatics N.V. (NASDAQ:IMTX, &quot, Immatics&quot, ))))), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company active in the discovery and development of T cell redirecting cancer immunotherapies. The agreements focus on using integrated services from Selexis and KBI as part of Immatics' development of TCR Bispecifics, called TCER(r) (T Cell Engaging Receptors), that simultaneously recruit, activate and stimulate the patient's own T cells to detect, target and attack tumor cells. Under the agreements, Selexis will utilize its SUREtechnology Platform(tm) and KBI will leverage its advanced analytics, process, formulation and cGMP manufacturing for Immatics' IMA402 program.

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"Immatics is pushing beyond the limitations of traditional antibody-based therapies by investigating targets beyond the cell surface to treat solid tumors," said Dirk Lange, chief executive officer at Selexis and president and chief executive officer at KBI Biopharma. "The integrated workflow between Selexis' SUREtechnology Platform and KBI's development approach and cGMP Manufacturing is designed to rapidly advance complex, novel product candidates towards investigational new drug submissions, while also providing a strong foundation for subsequent late-stage development and commercialization. Working together to support Immatics provides us a significant opportunity to demonstrate the power of our integrated expertise. We're excited to work with Immatics as the company advances its TCR Bispecific candidate IMA402 towards the clinic."

Immatics is developing targeted T cell receptor (TCR)-based immunotherapies with an emphasis on solid tumors through two distinct therapeutic modalities: Adoptive Cell Therapies (ACTengine(r)) and antibody-like TCR Bispecifics (TCER(r)). Due to their different modes of action, these modalities are designed to expand the therapeutic value for patients across a broad range of tumor types and stages and to provide a meaningful impact on the lives of cancer patients.

"Having delivered preclinical proof-of-concept for our TCR Bispecifics program IMA402 and having moved this program into GMP process development is a major achievement of Immatics," said Sven Berger, CMC Project Leader at Immatics.

"We have chosen Selexis and KBI because of their expertise in the development and manufacturing of bispecific antibodies. We are looking forward to working with them on our path towards IND for IMA402," commented Michael M?lh?j, Head of CMC Biologics at Immatics.

Selexis' modular SUREtechnology Platform(tm) facilitates the rapid, stable, and cost-effective production of virtually any recombinant protein and provides seamless integration of the biologics development continuum, spanning discovery to commercialization. KBI Biopharma will use the enriched pool and the high-performance research cell banks generated by Selexis for process, analytical, and formulation development, and manufacturing of pre-clinical and clinical supplies of Immatics' TCR Bispecifics.