Planegg/Martinsried, April 4, 2024. Medigene AG (Medigene, FSE: MDG1, Prime Standard), an immuno-oncology platform company focusing on the discovery and development of T cell immunotherapies for solid tumors, today announced that the Company has been issued a patent by the European Patent Office protecting its inducible Medigene T cell receptor (iM-TCR) technology, which contains a control mechanism to regulate efficacy and improve safety of its T cell receptor engineered T cell (TCR-T) therapies.
“Over the past years we have conscientiously built an extensive international intellectual property portfolio across major markets, which we expect will provide a significant competitive advantage. Each technology we design and develop aims to enhance efficacy and mitigate safety risk to the patient and is based on our extensive immunology research and experience. We are pleased to receive this latest patent grant for our iM-TCR technology from the European Patent Office, which complements our recently granted patent in Japan,” said Dolores Schendel, CSO at Medigene. “At the core of our comprehensive expertise in T cell immunology, specifically TCR-based therapies, is our ability to generate optimal TCRs. Our decades of research and development is manifested in our innovative, proprietary End-to-End Platform technologies, such as the iM-TCR that has the potential to optimize safety and efficacy of TCR-T therapies for patients.”
TCR-T therapies have demonstrated that they can effectively kill tumor cells. However, excessive activation of T cells may lead to premature exhaustion or cell death, as well as unwanted overactivity and the potential development of inflammatory responses in the body. The iM-TCR technology modifies the TCR to achieve control of TCR surface expression, allowing for fine-tuning of activity against tumor cells and thereby reducing potential inflammatory responses in the body. This property is of potential benefit not only to our current autologous TCR-T therapy assets, but potentially also applicable to other TCR-T based modalities. Additionally, the iM-TCR technology can potentially expand the range of targets and indications of vital or more sensitive tissue origin and provide additional safety when expanding to other disease areas beyond oncology.
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About Medigene AG
Medigene AG (FSE: MDG1) is an immuno-oncology platform company dedicated to developing differentiated T cell therapies for treatment of solid tumors. Its End-to-End Platform is built on multiple proprietary and exclusive technologies that enable the Company to generate optimal T cell receptors against both cancer testis antigens and neoantigens, armor and enhance these T cell receptor engineered (TCR) -T cells to create best-in-class, differentiated TCR-T therapies, and optimize the drug product composition for safety, efficacy and durability. The End-to-End Platform provides product candidates for both its own therapeutics pipeline and partnering. Medigene’s lead TCR-T program MDG1015 is expected to receive IND/CTA approval in the second half of 2024. For more information, please visit https://medigene.com/
About Medigene’s inducible TCR (iM-TCR)
The T cell receptor (TCR) assembly is a complex process. In humans, TCRs consist of an alpha (α) chain and a beta (β) chain and each chain possesses a constant and a variable part. Medigene´s proprietary iM-TCR technology prevents the normal pairing of the α and the β chains by introduction of specific engineered sequences into the constant part of each TCR chain. Each engineered chain is linked to an estrogen receptor sequence, which only allows the two iM-TCR chains to pair (dimerize) in the presence of Tamoxifen, and be expressed and function at the surface of TCR-T cells in a normal manner. Consequentially, to enable the iM-TCR-T cells to function in tumor cell recognition and killing, Tamoxifen administration is required but the levels required for dimerization and TCR-T function are orders of magnitude lower than the commonly used therapeutic doses.
Any TCR from Medigene’s broad library of 3S TCRs can be equipped with the proprietary iM-TCR technology, which enables the function of tumor-specific TCR-T cell therapies to be finely tuned for safety and efficacy according to clinical needs. For more information on our iM-TCR technology, please visit https://medigene.com/platform/im-tcr/
About Medigene’s End-to-End Platform
Medigene’s immunotherapies help activate the patient’s own defense mechanisms by harnessing T cells in the battle against cancer. Medigene’s End-to-End Platform combines multiple exclusive and proprietary technologies to create best-in-class, differentiated TCR-T therapies. The platform includes multiple TCR generation and optimization technologies (e.g., Allogeneic-HLA (Allo-HLA) TCR Priming), as well as product enhancement technologies (e.g., PD1-41BB and CD40L-CD28 costimulatory switch proteins, iM-TCR) to address challenges in developing effective, durable and safe TCR-T therapies. Partnerships with multiple companies including BioNTech and Regeneron, continue to validate the platform’s assets and technologies.
This press release contains forward-looking statements representing the opinion of Medigene as of the date of this release. The actual results achieved by Medigene may differ significantly from the forward-looking statements made herein. Medigene is not bound to update any of these forward-looking statements. Medigene® is a registered trademark of Medigene AG. This trademark may be owned or licensed in select locations only.
Medigene AG
Pamela Keck
Phone: +49 89 2000 3333 01
Email: investor@medigene.com
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