On August 23, 2023 Medigene AG (Medigene or the "Company", FSE: MDG1, Prime Standard), an immuno-oncology platform company focusing on the discovery and development of T cell immunotherapies for solid tumors, reported the expansion of the IP license for its PD1-41BB and CD40L-CD28 costimulatory switch proteins, enabling their application to additional cell types and for use in Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapies (patent number WO2017/162797A1) (Press release, MediGene, AUG 23, 2023, View Source [SID1234634656]). Medigene’s PD1-41BB and CD40L-CD28 costimulatory switch protein technologies were developed by its partner Helmholtz Munich and are exclusively licensed to Medigene.
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With the expansion of the IP license to include various cell types beyond T cell receptor engineered T cells (TCR-T), Medigene significantly enhances the potential use of both costimulatory switch proteins, which are currently combined with the Company’s specific, sensitive and safe T cell receptors (TCRs), across various cell types beyond T cells. This provides an opportunity to leverage the advantages of other immune cells and enhance the tumor cell killing activity, proliferation and persistence of its TCR-based therapies.
In addition, this IP license expansion enables Medigene to potentially enhance the efficacy of CAR-T therapies in patients who relapse and do not respond adequately to earlier lines of therapy due to the upregulation of PD-L1 in certain cancers.
"We are very pleased to continue our excellent collaboration with Helmholtz Munich and expand our IP license, enabling us to extend the anti-tumor enhancements of our PD1-41BB and CD40L-CD28 costimulatory switch proteins, in additional cell types beyond TCR-T therapies," said Dr. Selwyn Ho, Chief Executive Officer at Medigene. "Further, the expansion of this IP license fits well with our mid to long term strategy of focusing on the treatment of solid tumors. We also aim to selectively partner this technology with companies with demonstrated CAR-T expertise to further develop this novel therapeutic approach. This may open up opportunities for new treatment modalities that could help address current unmet needs in difficult-to-treat malignancies."