On September 27, 2017 Pelican Therapeutics ("Pelican"), a subsidiary of Heat Biologics, Inc. ("Heat") (Nasdaq: HTBX), entered into a manufacturing agreement with KBI Biopharma, Inc., a global biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization, for cGMP production of its PTX-35 antibody and PTX-15 fusion protein (Press release, Heat Biologics, SEP 27, 2017, View Source [SID1234520664]). PTX-35 and PTX-15 have the potential to improve clinical response in combination with Heat’s ImPACT therapeutic platform and other immunotherapy drugs by simulating the production of antigen-specific T-cells.

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"We selected KBI as our manufacturing partner because, based on our assessment, they have strong development capabilities, and possess the agility and flexibility to help Pelican prepare for early development of both our Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials," said Rahul Jasuja, CEO of Pelican.

Under the agreement, KBI Biopharma will offer comprehensive development and manufacturing services, which Pelican expects will offer advantages such as speed, productivity, stability and flexibility over traditional approaches to cell line development.

In May 2016, Pelican was awarded a $15.2 million grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to support these manufacturing efforts, as well as to complete a 70-patient, Phase 1 clinical trial incorporating one or more of these compounds.