AT-108 is a first-in-class, off-the-shelf gene therapy that leads to personalised and potent anticancer immune responses.
AT-108 reprogrammes cancer cells inside the patient’s body to become conventional Type 1 Dendritic Cells (cDC1s), a rare subset of immune cells that are critical for effective antitumour immunity.
These induced cDC1s present the individual’s specific cancer antigens to the immune system, triggering personalised and systemic anticancer immune responses.
Exothera will be entrusted with the development and scale-up of a manufacturing process for the drug candidate, including development of analytical methods, GMP-grade material production and aseptic filling.
Exothera offers a full-service model for viral vector-based biotherapeutics thanks to state-of-the-art technologies and one of the largest viral vector facilities in Europe (15,000sqm).
Cristiana Pires, cofounder and Chief Executive Officer of Asgard Therapeutics, said: Following our proof-of-concept studies supporting the lead candidate AT-108, we are very happy to reach process development phase and start CMC activities."
"We are looking forward to work with the very knowledgeable and skilled technical team at Exothera to progress our pioneering AT-108 towards clinical development."
Hanna Lesch, Chief Technology Officer at Exothera, mentioned: "We are proud to support Asgard Therapeutics in bringing these revolutionary therapeutics closer to the patients."
"With time, we've gained extensive experience with virus-based therapeutics production – both in suspension and in fixed bed bioreactors — and we are confident that we will use this expertise to help Asgard Therapeutics to achieve clinical phase success."
