Immune-Onc and UT System to develop new biotherapeutics for cancer immunotherapy

Immune-Onc Therapeutics has entered an agreement with two member institutions of the University of Texas System (UT System) to acquire the global rights to develop and commercialise new biotherapeutics with applications in cancer immunotherapy and other diseases.

The institutions are the UT Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), and the UT Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW).

Immune-Onc CEO Dr Charlene Liao said: "UTHealth is a comprehensive academic health centre and a valuable resource for healthcare education, biomedical research, and patient care.

"Immune-Onc is very pleased to license innovative biotherapeutic candidates from UTHealth and UTSW."

Immune-Onc has also entered a research collaboration with the institutions to discover and develop a new generation of biotherapeutics that modulate the immune system.

By leveraging the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Therapeutic Monoclonal Antibody Lead Optimization and Development Core Facility at UTHealth, the partnership will advance lead antibodies from academic laboratories.

It will also use the preclinical and clinical drug development expertise of Immune-Onc to move them to clinical trials and to eligible patients.

UTHealth research and technology vice-president Dr Bruce Butler said: "Immune-Onc has assembled a strong team of drug development experts from leading biopharmaceutical companies.

"We look forward to collaborating with Immune-Onc to bring benefits to patients."