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With the support of the EU program Eurostar*, ELSALYS BIOTECH & DKFZ initiate the preclinical development of this next-generation immunotherapy which acts both as immune checkpoint inhibitor and cytotoxic antibody.
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Once validated, ELB021 should enter clinical development in 2020.
Lyon, FRANCE, 18 July 2017, ELSALYS BIOTECH, an emerging player in the field of oncology & ophthalmology, announces today that ELB021, its first-in-class monoclonal antibody targeting the cell-surface receptor CD160, has entered into a preclinical collaboration with DKFZ (the “LeukeMab Project”) under a EU-sponsored program Eurostars .
In-licensed by ELSALYS BIOTECH from Inserm Transfert in February 2016, ELB021 is a next-generation immunotherapy antibody combining complementary mechanisms of action that could improve the efficacy/toxicity cancer treatment ratio, notably in B-cell leukemias such as Chronic Lymphoid and Hairy-Cell Leukemias (CLL and HCL). Early studies have already shown that ELB021:
- stimulates innate & adaptive anti-tumor immune response;
- eliminates selectively cancer cells expressing CD160 (normal B cells doesn’t express CD160 while the receptor is overexpressed in 98 % of CLL and in 100 % of HCL cells).
The overall budget amount for the LeukeMab Project is 1 million euros. Based on the promising preliminary data of ELB021, the objective is to generate the preclinical proof-of-concept and the pharmacological package that open the way to the first-in-human trial. DKFZ will provide its expertise to measure CD160 expression in CLL cells on large patients’ cohort and assess the efficacy and safety of the anti-CD160 antibody in relevant mouse models.
“The recognition by the Eurostars program underlies the therapeutic potential of our two-in-one approach in oncology. This new funding accelerates the development of this proprietary first-in-class antibody” said Dr. Christine GUILLEN, CEO and Co-founder of ELSALYS BIOTECH. “We are also very proud to further collaborate with the DKFZ, a european leader in cancer research.”
*EUROSTARS is a European joint program co-founded from the national budgets of 34 EUREKA countries.
