Biotecnol: Immnuotherapies for Life

Immuno-oncolgy needs the leaders to step up now more than ever. Biotecnol develops highly-specific antibody-based immunotherapies which activates and directs the defenses of a patient's own immune system, such as their own Killer T-Cells (T-lymphocytes that kill cancer cells) to fight various types of cancers where standard of care treatments have shown little or no benefit.

Founded in 2014, Biotecnol Limited is a spin-off of Biotecnol SA, a Portuguese pioneering company with a 20 year track record in development of Biologics. It is a UK-based immuno-oncology company developing immune-function activating and immune-function modulation approaches using multi-specific antibody products based on its proprietary Tribody™ and Trisoma® technologies.

The company has devised a novel way to further expand on the Tribody™ format and the Trisoma® platform to generate novel IP on a next generation of immune-response modulators called – Targeted T-cell Engaging Agonistic Response Modifiers or iChecks™. These products aim at improving tumor cell dependent T-cell activation. Due to its trispecific nature, the approach is expected to achieving a more localized immune activation and obtain less or no systemic toxicity with an increased therapeutic index.  These are potentially safer and more effective drugs for highly-heterogeneous and highly-aggressive solid tumors.

Biotecnol has built upon years of R&D and platform optimization, in order to further develop the Tribody™ scaffold and create a systematic and robust approach towards engineering of immune-function recruiters and immune-modulators. The platform was further optimized and robustness was achieved right from the DNA stage to the production of pharmaceutical grade Tribody™ products for human clinical trials.

In July 2017, the Cancer Research UK became shareholder in Biotecnol. Clinical research in oncology has evolved significantly over the last 5 years. Novel protocols using combination therapies of a variety of novel biological and traditional chemical agents have shown great promise in managing survival in cancer patients. Biotecnol’s strategy is to work with top cancer institutions in the immune-oncology field, such as CRUK, which will help the company to accelerate the development of cutting-edge therapeutic approaches to fight cancer, especially in solid tumors, an area which is in great demand for effective products.

Trisoma®

Trisoma® is a high-throughput, powerful and well-controlled platform based on proprietary methods and protocols for generating and characterizing a Tribody™ candidate drug substance. The Trisoma® platform is used for the assembly, engineering and testing of various Tribody™ molecules with various distinct properties under various structural formats with optimal stability and desired pharmacological properties in terms of bioavailabity.

Under the Trisoma® platform, Biotecnol has developed a novel format known as "Targeted T-cell Engaging Agonistic Response Modifiers" or iChecks™. These products aim at improving tumor cell dependent T-cell or NK-cell activation. The iCheck™ formats are expected to achieve a more localized immune-function activation and obtain less or no systemic toxicity, whilst having an increased therapeutic index. These are potentially safer and more effective drugs for treating highly-heterogeneous and highly-aggressive solid tumors.

Biotecnol is constantly improving on the engineering of the Trisoma® platform and its associated technology in order to build new intellectual property and optimize the characteristics of such versatile Tribody™ derived molecules.

This London-based company is developing its products, up to and including clinical proof of concept in man through development milestones that represent key value inflection points with the aim of subsequently license or selling them to a pharmaceutical partner.

Biotecnol is developing various products, some under collaborations with undisclosed partners. The company is committed to explore the design of treatments using combinations of novel agents in this exciting, dynamic and constantly emerging space of cancer immunotherapy, which could contribute significantly to fighting highly heterogeneous and aggressive cancers.

The company has various undisclosed candidates being tested both in solid and non-solid tumors. Furthermore, these products are being investigated as dual-targeting agents, making the most out of the trispecific features of the versatile Tribody™ Platform. Our first product moving to the clinic is Tb535, which is described below.

Clinical research in oncology has evolved significantly over the last 5 years. Novel protocols using combination therapies of a variety of novel biological and traditional chemical agents have shown great promise in managing survival in cancer patients. Biotecnol’s strategy is to work with top cancer institutions in the immune-oncology field which will help the company to accelerate the development of cutting-edge therapeutic approaches to fight cancer, especially in solid tumours, an area which is in great demand for effective products.

The Leader

Pedro de Noronha Pissarra, Ph.D., CEO

Pedro has over 20 years of experience in the Biotechnology Industry and his entrepreneurial activities are internationally acknowledged. Pedro has built over the years an extensive track-record in growing early stage projects in healthcare.

Pedro holds a B.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Biotechnology from Kings College London (University of London). He carried out research at several institutions, including the Chemical Engineering Department of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), Cambridge, USA and at the Centre for Process Biotechnology (CPB) of the Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark. Following his Doctoral degree he specialized in medical sciences and oncology. After his Postdoctoral training he undertook a 12 month Masters Programme in Management at the IC2 Institute of the University of Texas, Austin, USA.

“The company is committed to explore the design of treatments using combinations of novel agents in this exciting, dynamic and constantly emerging space of cancer immunotherapy, which could contribute significantly to fighting highly heterogeneous and aggressive cancers.”