Crescendo Biologics has announced that Takeda is planning to evaluate the application of its recently licensed Humabodies, for the development of novel CAR-T therapeutics.
Crescendo and Takeda have been partnered since October 2016, under the agreement that Crescendo’s proprietary transgenic platform and engineering expertise would be used to identify and configure Humabody – a novel class of small, robust and potent protein therapeutics, based on fully human VH domain building blocks.
The proposed new research will investigate the unique properties of the Humabody VHs for tumour targeting of immunotherapy. The CAR-T cell therapy uses a patient’s own T cells, which form part of the immune system.
Compared to full antibodies, Humabodies have differentiated pharmacological properties: they are small and can rapidly penetrate and accumulate in tissue and tumours whilst clearing quickly from circulation to minimise systemic toxicity.
Dr Peter Pack, CEO of Crescendo, commented: “We’re pleased to see the research Takeda is undertaking with our Humabody technology. Their desire to explore the Humabody technology in a CAR-T setting presents an exciting opportunity to evaluate whether Humabodies can address the issues that exist with other CAR-T targeting approaches.”
Takeda took the exclusive license to Crescendo’s Humabodies in November 2018.
