Immunotherapies, which harness the body’s natural defenses to combat disease, have revolutionized cancer treatment. According to the 2023 Market.us report, the cancer therapeutics market is projected to reach $632 billion by 2032.
While genetically engineered T and NK cell therapies, both allogeneic and autologous, have proven to be effective for blood cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma, they have yet to demonstrate clinical efficacy for the treatment of cancer patients with solid tumors. Checkpoint inhibitors, monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), growth factors, and adoptive cell therapies, although promising, continue to have limited efficacy in patients with cold solid tumors and end-stage metastatic solid cancers, such as pancreatic cancers (with an average survival of 3 months), triple-negative breast cancers (18 months), prostate cancer (19 months), colon cancers, liver cancers (15 months), and others. While Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs) have shown potential for solid tumors, there is still a need for improvement in their efficacy. The relative overall response rates of checkpoint inhibitors and TILs are illustrated .
Our FucoTILs leverage our proprietary Cell Efficacy Multiplier Fucosylation Platform technology to deliver 3-5 times more TILs to tumor sites and achieve 3-5 times greater intra-tumor penetration by TILs. This increased quantity of TILs in tumor sites enables them to mount a more effective attack on solid cancer tumors. Furthermore, fucosylation, as demonstrated in multiple studies, increases immune cell cytotoxicity, leading to more effective cancer tumor killing.
Exciting preclinical proof of concept data generated at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania all indicate the potential of FucoTILs to become an important life-saving therapy for late-stage cancer patients with solid tumors who currently have limited treatment options. To further advance the development of FucoTILs, we are now focusing on IND enabling activities and human proof-of-concept trials at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Yale, and Ohio State University.