Secarna Pharmaceuticals and Achilles Therapeutics Partner on T Cell Therapy Development

Secarna Pharmaceuticals, a Germany-based biopharmaceutical company focused on next-generation antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) therapies, announced on Nov. 10, 2021 that it has entered into a research, option, and license agreement with Achilles Therapeutics, a member of the Achilles Therapeutics plc group of companies, to optimize the development of T cell therapies in Achilles’ pipeline.

Under the agreement, Secarna will receive an undisclosed upfront payment, a target-based technology access fee, and option exercise fees. The company is also eligible to receive development and commercial milestone payments and tiered royalties on net sales of personalized T cell therapies developed and commercialized under the collaboration.

In the collaboration, Secarna will apply its discovery and development platform, LNAplus, to generate ASO candidates against selected targets. These targets potentially play a central role in the ex-vivo optimization of personalized T cell therapies under development by Achilles. Secarna will also perform in-vitro testing, after which Achilles will conduct production feasibility and optimization testing.

“We are excited to collaborate with Achilles and jointly work on a highly innovative approach to optimize T cell therapies with our LNAplus-based ASOs,” said Alexander Gebauer, CEO of Secarna Pharmaceuticals, in a company press release. “By combining our industry-leading antisense oligonucleotide platform with Achilles’ expertise in the field of T cell therapies, we see the potential to break new ground in the treatment of cancer patients.”

Source: Secarna Pharmaceuticals