ACE-1831

The collaboration joins several rounds of funding in seeking to advance Acepodia’s promising ACC/γδ2 platforms. Image: Shutterstock / Yuri A. Taipei-based biotech Acepodia announced yesterday (3 September) that it has agreed to a collaboration with Pfizer Ignite, a subsidiary of Pfizer, in which Pfizer’s resources and expertise will be leveraged to advance Acepodia’s cell therapies for autoimmune disease. Pfizer will bolster Acepodia’s research and development capabilities to support the progress of the company’s unique antibody-cell conjugation (ACC) and allogeneic γδ2 T cell platforms, accelerating in particular the development of Acepodia’s candidates, ACE1831 and ACE2016. Acepodia will retain all rights to these programmes and any related partnerships. The ACC platform is said to produce a version of a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy without the usual side effects, such as neurotoxicity and cytokine release. The technology links antibodies to proprietary immune cells to enhance tumour binding where tumour antigen expression is low. Prior to the agreement, Acepodia stock had seen some decline. According to Yahoo Finance , share price dropped from a high in August 2023 of TWD 43.1 ($1.34 USD) following their initial public offering to as low as $20.90 TWD ($0.65 USD) in August 2024. It has since made a slight recovery, standing at $23.45 TWD ($0.73 USD) when the market opened today. The company’s market cap is TWD 14.412bn TWD ($447.9m USD). In June 2023, the company had raised Series D funding amounting to $259m . Both this funding and Pfizer’s collaboration are focused on advancing Acepodia’s lead candidates ACE1831 and ACE2016. See Also: Novavax wins FDA emergency approval for updated Covid-19 vaccine Global Calcium hit with Form 483 after Indian factory inspection ACE1831 is being tested in an open-label Phase I trial (NCT05653271) to evaluate safety and efficacy in patients with CD20-expressing non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Preliminary results released earlier this year indicated a robust and durable effect at the lowest dose tested; one out of five patients achieved complete response while three experienced disease stabilisation, and no serious adverse events were reported. Meanwhile, ACE2016 is set to enter Phase I trialling, having been granted Investigational New Drug (IND) clearance by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in February of this year for solid tumours. Dr. Sonny Hsiao, CEO of Acepodia, said the agreement, “will position us well to deliver our immunotherapies to patients in desperate need of new options”. Kathy Fernando, head of Pfizer Ignite, stated Pfizer will “look forward to collaborating with Acepodia to help translate their compelling scientific platform into impactful new medicines for patients with unmet need”. Cell & Gene Therapy coverage on Pharmaceutical Technology is supported by Cytiva . Editorial content is independently produced and follows the highest standards of journalistic integrity. Topic sponsors are not involved in the creation of editorial content. Free Whitepaper Optimise your cell therapy process: a guide to cell thawing Typically carried out at the point of care, errors in cell therapy thawing could compromise treatment efficacy, leading to significant patient impact as well as high costs and a compromised reputation for the product’s developer. This guide addresses how cell thawing has historically developed into the new techniques used today, along with the physical and biological implications of key metrics and components such as warming rate and ice structure. Also included are reviews of key studies from scientific literature and a consideration of the interactions between cooling and warming rates, as applicable to cell and gene therapies. Thank you. You will receive an email shortly. Please check your inbox to download the Whitepaper. By Cytiva Thematic By downloading this Whitepaper, you acknowledge that GlobalData may share your information with Cytiva Thematic and that your personal data will be used as described in their Privacy Policy

Through Pfizer Ignite, Acepodia will gain access to Pfizer's resources, scale and expertise as the company broadens the application of its platform beyond oncology into autoimmune diseases Pfizer Ignite will also provide strategic advisory support for Acepodia's ongoing clinical programs, ACE1831 in NHL and ACE2016 in solid tumors Acepodia's lead ACC platform therapy has shown clinical benefits in oncology without the limitations of current CAR-T cell therapies ALAMEDA, Calif. and TAIPEI, Sept. 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Acepodia (6976:TT), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing first-in-class cell therapies with its unique Antibody-Cell Conjugation (ACC) and allogeneic gamma delta 2 (γδ2) T cell platforms, announced today that it has entered a strategic clinical collaboration with Pfizer Ignite to support the development of its therapies in autoimmune diseases. Pfizer Ignite is an end-to-end offering that leverages Pfizer's significant resources, scale, and expertise, alongside a proven track record in the development of breakthroughs, to support biotechs seeking to accelerate their innovations from preclinical R&D through the development lifecycle. Under this new agreement, Pfizer Ignite will provide strategic guidance and resources to Acepodia as the company develops its cell therapies for oncology and autoimmune diseases. Acepodia's ACC platform, which uses bioorthogonal chemistry and is based on the pioneering work of 2022 Nobel laureate Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi, who applied click chemistry to living systems, creates an off-the-shelf, non-genetically engineered version of CAR-T cell therapy that is more easily scaled and avoids cytokine release storms, neurotoxicity, and other side effects associated with CAR-T cell therapies. Acepodia's lead clinical candidate, ACE1831, is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 first-in-human clinical trial for patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and has demonstrated a robust and durable effect after a single treatment at the lowest dose. "The significant unmet needs that exist in autoimmune diseases combined with the early positive results that have been seen with CAR-T therapies have opened the door for potential innovations that could provide the efficacy of CAR-T therapy without the challenges that have made routine use of CAR-T in autoimmune diseases difficult," said Sonny Hsiao, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Acepodia. "We see a significant opportunity to bring the benefits of our ACC platform to autoimmune diseases, and working with Pfizer Ignite will position us well to deliver our immunotherapies to patients in desperate need of new options." By collaborating with Pfizer Ignite, Acepodia will benefit from Pfizer's resources, deep expertise and R&D capabilities, covering multiple stages such as clinical trial design and regulatory strategies to improve the process of developing innovative drugs. "Pfizer Ignite is focused on supporting the delivery of innovative therapies that are strategically aligned with Pfizer's priority areas and have the potential to address significant gaps in patient care, " said Kathy Fernando, SVP, Head of Pfizer Ignite. "Drawing on Pfizer's deep expertise in oncology and immunology, we look forward to collaborating with Acepodia to help translate their compelling scientific platform into impactful new medicines for patients with unmet need." With the agreement, Acepodia will retain all rights related to the progress of the program and future partnership opportunities. About Acepodia Acepodia is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing first-in-class cell therapies with its unique Antibody-Cell Conjugation (ACC) platform technology to address gaps in cancer care. Leveraging its ACC technology, the company links tumor-targeting antibodies to its proprietary immune cells, such as natural killer and gamma delta T cells, to create novel ACE therapies, which have increased binding strength against tumors that express low levels of tumor antigens. Acepodia is composed of seasoned leaders and scientific experts dedicated to advancing its robust pipeline of ACE therapies with the potential to bring innovative, effective, and affordable cell therapies to a broad population of patients across a variety of solid tumors and hematologic cancers. For more information, visit and follow Acepodia on Twitter and LinkedIn. SOURCE Acepodia Inc.