Pioneering and innovative cancer cell therapy, Roche Expanded Cooperation Agreement

Today, SQZ Biotech, Massachusetts, announced an expanded partnership with Roche to use its SQZ platform to develop anti-cancer cell therapies based on antigen delivery cells (APCs). In 2015, the two companies reached a nearly $500 million partnership to jointly develop cell therapies based on exocytocytes (PBMCs). Under the terms of the agreement, SQZ is likely to receive payments of up to $1 billion.
As part of the immune system, APCs specialize in ingesting invasive or pathogenic substances, such as protein fragments from tumors, and "presenting" T-cells in an appropriate manner, similar to a police dog being sniffed in a piece of clothing as a way to identify a suspect or missing person. SQZ said that in animal trials, when presenting antigen cells (APCs), the target antigens presented by their main tissue compatible complex (MHC) were able to induce a strong-specific CD8 T cell response against the antigen, which would then have a strong lethal effect on any cell expressing the target antigen.
SQZ and Roche will use the SQZ technology platform to remove antigens from a patient's tumor, insert them into the patient's APCs, and then send them back to the patient. These modified APCs train and activate the body's T-cells to hunt down cancer. This platform has the potential to treat a wide range of tumor adaptations.
unique platform of SQZ is that it does not require virus vectors and gene editing systems to genetically engineer APCs, but rather uses physical methods. It gives cells enough to open their cell membranes with a tiny chip that can be used to sub-select cells one by one, allowing proteins to enter the cells without killing them. This greatly improves the safety of the treatment while reducing production time and costs. SQZ and Roche are seeking FDA regulatory approval to begin human trials sometime next year.
current preclinical studies in SQZ focus on human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive cancers, especially cervical and cervical cancers. In addition, SQZ is studying type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases, an area where research is still in the scientific discovery stage.Dr Howard Bernstein, chief scientific officer of
SQZ, said: "By building a platform for PMBC APC, this collaboration will create an SQZ APC product engine that, in a simple and efficient way, could produce a large number of products that can cause a strong immune response. (Bio Valley)