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Breakthrough immunotherapy project led by Biomunex Pharmaceuticals, with Institut Curie & GTP Bioways, receives grants close to €3 million

11/04/2021

Biomunex Pharmaceuticals announces grants of nearly €3 million for its groundbreaking immunotherapy project, obtained from the French government as part of the ‘Grand Défi Biomédicament’ scheme. Led alongside Institut Curie and GTP Bioways, BiXAb5 non-conventional T cell redirection project seeks to create breakthrough immunotherapy approach to cancer treatment based on bispecific antibodies.

Biomunex Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company that develops cutting-edge immunotherapy through the discovery and development of bi- and multi-specific antibodies, announces grants of nearly €3 million for its groundbreaking immunotherapy project, obtained from the French government as part of the ‘Grand Défi Biomédicament’ scheme. This is the most significant grant awarded under the scheme, and contributes towards the 5.6 million euro budget ($6.5M) allocated to this project.

The BiXAb5 project is one of nine that were awarded grants by the French authorities, from a total of 90 applications. The project is being headed up by Biomunex, working in partnership with Institut Curie and GTP Bioways (formerly VBI Therapeutics). It aims to develop a new immunotherapy approach to cancer treatment, employing redirection technology targeting a subpopulation of non-conventional T cells. This follows on from a successful first joint project between Institut Curie (Paris, France) and Biomunex, which resulted in a patent application filing covering a universal non-conventional T cell redirection approach.

The project is based on bispecific antibodies generated by the BiXAb platform, which was discovered and developed by Biomunex. This next-generation ‘plug and play’ proprietary platform can quickly and cost-effectively produce bispecific antibodies from any pair of monoclonal antibodies as building blocks, with minimal engineering. This project could open the door to an immunotherapy that is safer and more effective than the T cell redirection immunotherapies currently developed (e.g. CD3, gamma-delta, etc.). It could be applied to a number of tumor antigens in a variety of oncology indications and used to treat both solid tumors and hematological malignancies.

The decisive criteria that has led to the selection of the project by the French government included the level of maturity of the technology, the strong business model with Biomunex as project leader, the capacity to generate private investments and create jobs, the integration into the French biotech sector and the medical needs covered by this project. This grant is a testament to the quality of the innovative bispecific antibodies discovered and developed by Biomunex using the BiXAb platform^®. To support the project, approximately ten positions will be created in the short term.

We’re delighted to be among the prizewinners that have been awarded grants from the French government, thanks to our partnership with Institut Curie and to GTP Bioways’ expertise in bioproduction. We see the grant as further recognition of the potential of our unique immunotherapy. Our strategic goal is to develop new and disruptive biological approaches using our next-generation bispecific and multi-specific antibody formats based on the BiXAb platform.

said Dr. Pierre-Emmanuel Gerard, founder and CEO of Biomunex.

In addition to this unique immunotherapy, Biomunex also develops a pipeline of innovative bispecific antibodies. One of these antibodies was licensed to the Swiss biopharmaceutical company Onward Therapeutics in February 2021, where it is being developed for use in the treatment of hematological malignancies. Other programs are being developed in collaboration with a number of academic and private partners, with the goal of starting the clinical development of several BiXAb antibodies from 2023.