Tiba Biotech LLC

The funding will help further the development of its pipeline projects targeting colorectal and ovarian cancers. Credit: NTshutterth/Shutterstock. Pan Cancer T, a US biotech firm specialising in next-generation T cell therapies for solid tumours, has announced the successful closure of a €4.25m ($4.62m) seed extension round. The funding will facilitate the completion of preclinical studies for its leading product, PCT1:CO-STIM, and further the development of its pipeline projects targeting colorectal and ovarian cancers. The seed extension round was bolstered by a new investor, InnovationQuarter, alongside continued support from existing investors Van Herk Ventures, Thuja Capital, Swanbridge Capital and Erasmus MC O&O Holdings. The total funding for Pan Cancer T now stands at €11m. Nina Satih, investment manager at InnovationQuarter, will join its supervisory board as an observer. See Also:BARDA and Tiba Biotech link to develop ‘flu therapeutics Can a ‘super pill’ help shrink Big Pharma’s climate footprint? The investment will enable Pan Cancer T to advance its lead TCR [T cell receptor engineered]-T cell product, PCT1:CO-STIM, through critical preclinical studies and CMC [chemistry, manufacturing and controls] activities. The funding will also aid the progression of earlier-stage pipeline projects and the development of a second next-generation engineering approach. Pan Cancer T CEO Rachel Abbott stated: “We are delighted to have closed this financing round with the support of InnovationQuarter and our existing investors. “This enables us to advance our lead product toward the clinic, offering new hope for patients with triple-negative breast cancer. It also provides a firm foundation to secure a Series A round within the coming year and seek business development partnerships with Biotech and Pharma collaborators to further develop our assets, including our TCR:CO-STIM platform that is applicable to other TCRs and tumour indications.” InnovationQuarter senior investment manager Kees Recourt stated: “InnovationQuarter is proud to invest in Pan Cancer T, contributing to the development of state-of-the-art cell therapies to combat hard-to-treat cancers. “This investment not only supports the company but also strengthens the entrepreneurial Life Sciences and Health cluster in the province of Zuid-Holland”. PCT1:CO-STIM features an IP [intellectual property]-protected T cell receptor, generated using Pan Cancer T’s validated discovery platform that is highly specific for ROPN1, a novel tumour-restricted target strongly expressed in more than 90% of patients with triple-negative breast cancer and melanoma. The candidate also incorporates a proprietary tumour microenvironment [TME] solution, designed to provide co-stimulation to T cells even in a hostile TME, which has demonstrated significantly improved response duration in preclinical models.

The partnership builds on Tiba’s existing efforts to tackle influenza pandemic threats. Credit: fizkes/Shutterstock. Tiba Biotech, a US preclinical biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has announced a partnership with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response at the US Department of Health and Human Services. The collaboration, initiated through an EZ-BAA [easy broad agency announcement] contract, is set to develop groundbreaking therapeutics against influenza with a focus on RNA-mediated interference (RNAi) technologies. The $749,999 contract was awarded through a competitive review process. It supports the early-stage development of Tiba Biotech’s therapeutic platform for BARDA’s flexible and strategic therapeutics programme. The programme’s goal is to advance technologies that can be quickly deployed to combat emerging viral threats. See Also: BARDA and Tiba Biotech link to develop ‘flu therapeutics Merz wins $185m bid for bankrupt Acorda assets and increases US workforce by 50% Tiba Biotech’s initial efforts will concentrate on creating a prototype RNAi-based therapeutic targeting the highly conserved viral nucleoprotein of H1N1 influenza. The therapeutic will be delivered using Tiba’s proprietary RNABL platform. Tiba Biotech co-founder and lead investigator of the project Dr Jasdave Chahal, expressed enthusiasm about the award: “We are excited to receive this BARDA award, which will advance Tiba’s innovative approach to combating influenza and other viral threats. We believe our technology has the potential to transform the landscape of RNA therapeutics.” The partnership builds on Tiba’s existing efforts to tackle influenza pandemic threats. Tiba is developing a novel multi-antigen mRNA-based H7N9 flu vaccine, funded under a Phase II SBIR award from the National Institutes of Health and in collaboration with the Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers. Tiba was recently accepted into BLUE KNIGHT, a joint initiative between Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS and BARDA, which seeks to drive innovation in addressing future health threats. The project with BARDA is fully supported by federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.

Tiba Biotech's new partnership with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority will build upon work it's already doing on a multi-antigen, mRNA-based vaccine against H7N9. The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has awarded a $749,999 contract to Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Tiba Biotech to develop a new RNAi-based therapeutic against bird flu.  In a July 11 press release, Tiba announced that BARDA had selected it for an EZ-BAA contract under the Flexible and Strategic Therapeutics, or FASTx, program. FASTx is focused on creating a “robust arsenal” of treatment platforms that can be adapted quickly in the case of public health emergencies like pandemics, according to the initiative’s website. Tiba’s technology is a synthetic, biodegradable nanoparticle platform for delivering RNA-based therapies. It’s meant to be an upgrade from lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) like the ones used in Pfizer and Moderna’s mRNA vaccines for COVID-19. For Tiba, the rationale is that while LNPs are safe at low levels, dosing is limited by the possibility of toxicity and inflammation. They also have a low payload capacity that prevents them from being useful for treating certain kinds of diseases that would require larger, more complex molecules. Furthermore, ongoing patent wars and high licensing fees make new LNP applications too expensive to get off the ground.  In contrast, Tiba’s platform can handle a payload capacity that is an “order of magnitude greater” than traditional LNPs, the company claims. That provides room for new RNA designs that express more of a single protein as well as multiple antigens. The particles can perhaps handle other complex machinery, too, making them theoretically useful not just for vaccines but also CRISPR/Cas9 systems and “smart” RNA circuits for gene therapy, per Tiba’s website. The company plans to engineer therapies not only for infectious disease but also autoimmune conditions, allergies and oncology applications.  Tiba’s new work with BARDA will see the company develop an RNAi-based treatment for the bird flu strain H1N1. It will build upon existing work on a multi-antigen, mRNA-based H7N9 vaccine, the preclinical development of which is being funded by a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease grant. The company also was recently accepted into a joint initiative between BARDA and Johnson & Johnson called Blue Knight, another project to boost pandemic and public health crisis preparedness.  Tiba has raised around $4 million in funding so far from organizations including the Gates Foundation on top of around $4 million in grants, with another $12 million in agreements for research support from both domestic and international government agencies.   Editor's note: This article was updated on July 11 to correct that Tiba is not making a vaccine for the bird flu, but an RNAi-based treatment. A previous version of this story mentioned that the company had worked on a treatment for the Zika virus; this research preceded the company's formation.