ImmunoScape Inks Licensing Deal with Pure MHC to Advance Development of Novel TCR-Based Therapies

SINGAPORE & SAN DIEGO & OKLAHOMA CITY & AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ImmunoScape, a pre-clinical biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of next-generation TCR cell therapies in the field of oncology, today announced that it has signed a licensing deal with Pure MHC, LLC, a target discovery and development company, to pursue TCR-T therapeutics against Pure MHC-identified antigens in lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and other cancer indications.

ImmunoScape’s unique Deep Immunomics platform enables high-throughput screening of potential targets by utilizing proprietary barcoding technology to enable the discovery of rare, therapeutically-relevant T cells. Pure MHC has developed an in-depth library of T cell antigens specific to tumor cells, which are optimal targets for TCR-T therapeutics. The licensing deal will allow ImmunoScape to pursue TCR-T therapeutics using this library, and accelerate identification of novel T cell receptors for therapeutic development.

“Our Deep Immunomics platform allows us to mine patient samples on a large scale, while retaining extraordinarily high sensitivity,” said Choon Peng Ng, CEO, ImmunoScape. “This deal with Pure MHC gives us access to a proprietary library of antigens that will allow both companies to further the development of potential targets in common cancer indications that would benefit from therapeutic innovation. We are very excited about this collaboration and what it can do for the realm of therapeutic discovery.”

Pure MHC identifies immune targets that are preferentially presented by the HLA of tumor cells, with limited or no expression on healthy cells and tissue. The company collaborates with industry partners, such as ImmunoScape, on novel target discovery programs for lung cancer, colorectal cancer, ovarian cancer, acute myeloid leukemia, and several other oncology indications.

“Pure MHC’s proprietary target discovery process and related tools, such as our Peptide HLA Immunotherapy Data Resource (“PHIDR”) healthy tissue database, provide a unique evidence-based approach to guide ImmunoScape’s TCR-T therapeutic development to disease specific targets,” said Kris Looney, President of Pure MHC. “ImmunoScape is the perfect partner to leverage Pure MHC’s discovery platform for powerful, next generation TCR cell therapies.”

To learn more about ImmunoScape, please visit https://immunoscape.com/.

To learn more about Pure MHC, please visit https://puremhc.com/.

About ImmunoScape

ImmunoScape is a pre-clinical biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of next-generation TCR cell therapies in the field of oncology. The company’s proprietary Deep Immunomics technology platform enables highly sensitive, large-scale mining and immune profiling of T cells in cancer patient samples to identify novel, therapeutically relevant TCRs across multiple types of solid tumors. ImmunoScape has multiple discovery programs ongoing and will be progressing towards IND-enabling studies and entry into the clinic. For more information, please visit https://immunoscape.com/.

About Pure MHC

Pure MHC, LLC is a platform technology company funded and managed by Emergent Technologies, Inc. with expertise in disease-specific target identification and validation as well as immunotherapeutic drug development for cancer, infectious and autoimmune diseases and allergy. The Pure MHC target discovery technology was developed by Chief Scientist William Hildebrand, Ph.D., of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. For more information, visit www.puremhc.com.

About Emergent Technologies

Emergent Technologies, Inc. is an innovation solutions and technology commercialization leader headquartered in Austin, Texas. For more information, visit www.etibio.com.

Contacts

Media
Kalyn Schieffer for ImmunoScape
kos@anzupartners.com

Cameron Mackie for Pure MHC and Emergent Technologies
cmackie@etibio.com