Therabest and Glycotope to assess Therabest’s iPSC-derived NK cell product  TB-100 in combination with Glycotope’s GT-00AxIL15 immuno-cytokine for development in triple negative breast cancer

San Diego, U.S.A., Seoul, Korea and Berlin, Germany, 13 December 2022 – Therabest USA. Inc, Therabest Korea (Therabest) and Glycotope GmbH (Glycotope) have signed an agreement to assess the clinical development of Therabest’s EiNK^TM (Enhanced iPSC-derived NK) cell therapy, TB-100, in combination with Glycotope’s immuno-cytokine, GT-00AxIL15 in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients.

NK cell therapies from various cell sources have demonstrated exciting results in early clinical trials and are rapidly becoming powerful alternatives to conventional treatments. However, for solid tumors, NK cell therapies are still hampered by the low persistency and homing of NK cells. The combination of Therabest’s iPSC derived NK cell therapy TB-100 and Glycotope’s tumor-targeted immuno-cytokine GT-00AxIL15 challenges the current NK cell therapy paradigm by converging a two-component platform in which the dosage of an immuno-cytokine improves the activity of TB-100.

“We look forward to maximizing the strengths of TB-100 and GT-00AxIL15 to challenge solid tumors with enhanced cytotoxicity, specificity, persistency, and safety through this collaboration. We expect serial killing of MUC1 positive TNBC tumor cells by TB-100 redirected with GT-00AxIL15,” said Sung Chang Lee, CEO, Therabest USA and adjunct CDO, Therabest. 

“The collaboration underlines the attractivity of our tumor targeted immuno-cytokine GT-00AxIL15 and its suitability for combination therapies. We are excited by the potential of combining two highly innovative technologies to explore the treatment of TNBC here,” added Henner Kollenberg, CEO, Glycotope. 

Therabest’s EiNK^TM platform is a next-generation allogeneic NK cell therapy manufacturing technology that covers all processes from iPSC gene editing to iPSC-derived NK cell differentiation and proliferation. TB-100, a highly active NK cell therapy development candidate from EiNK^TM platform, can recognize and remove heterogeneous cancer cells very effectively. TB-100 is an off-the-shelf and uniform cell therapy without donor-dependent batch-to-batch variation with minimal risk of current cell therapies.

Glycotope’s antibodies target specific tumor-associated carbohydrate structures or protein/carbohydrate combined glyco-epitopes (GlycoTargets). Targeting these specific antigens enables broad indication range, long-term treatment potential and reduced on-target/off tumor toxicity, key elements of highly potent therapies. Based on this unrivalled tumor-specificity, Glycotope’s antibodies are highly suitable for a multi-function platform approach with independent modes of action to provide a tailored therapy format for as many patients as possible.

Contact Information:

Therabest, Therabest USA

Sung Chang Lee (CDO, Therabest Korea and CEO, Therabest USA)

Phone: +1 619-614-2966

Email:  sunglee@therabest-usa.com

Glycotope GmbH

Henner Kollenberg (CEO)

Phone: +49 30 9489 2600

Email: contact@glycotope.com

Media Contact:

Chris Gardner, Chris Welsh

Consillium Strategic Communications

Phone: +44 20 3709 5700

Email: glycotope@consillium-comms.com

About TB-100

Therabest’s TB-100 is an allogeneic iPSC-derived NK cell therapy produced from Therabest’s EiNK^TM (Enhanced iPSC-derived NK) platform. TB-100 is the next generation cell therapy consisting of highly specialized cytotoxic NK cells which can recognize and removes heterogeneous cancer cells very effectively because they have high expressions of various activation receptors, including IL-15R and NKG2D, and low expressions of inhibitory receptors. TB-100 is an off-the-shelf and uniform cell therapy without donor-dependent batch-to-batch variation with minimal risk of CRS (cytokine release syndrome) and neurotoxicity, which are known challenges in current CAR-T cell therapy.

About GT-00A x IL15

GT-00A x IL15 is a TA-MUC1 targeting IL-15 immuno-cytokine fusion antibody. Cytokines have long been used for cancer therapy to activate the immune system, but side effects and short half-life limit their therapeutic application. The concept of specific targeting to the tumor and tumor microenvironment to exploit the full potential of IL-15 biology is unique within the competitive field of IL-15 (super)agonists. The Immuno-cytokine attracts and activates immune cells (e.g., T and NK cells) directly at the tumor site thereby turning an “immune desert” into a “hot” tumor and inducing tumor cell lysis. A comprehensive non-clinical data package is available.

About Therabest

Therabest is a discovery/clinical-stage biotech company focusing on developing immunotherapy for allogeneic adoptive transfer and biologics that improve well-being. Programs include Off-the-Shelf production of immune cells for universal cell therapy products as well as precision biologics to educate the immune system to target/attack specific abnormal cells as well as to enhance the immune response to eliminate hematological and solid cancer. Visit www.therabest.co.kr/en/.

About Glycotope

Glycotope is a biotechnology company utilizing a proprietary technology platform to develop uniquely tumor-specific monoclonal antibodies. Our antibodies target specific tumor-associated carbohydrate structures or protein/carbohydrate combined glyco-epitopes (GlycoTargets). Glycotope has to date discovered in excess of 200 GlycoTargets with antibodies against several of these targets currently under development.

Based on their superior tumor-specificity, our antibodies are suitable for development in an array of different modes of action including naked antibodies, bispecifics, antibody-drug-conjugates, cellular therapies or fusion-proteins. Visit www.glycotope.com.