Strategic Collaborations

Strategic collaborations

Crescendo is further evaluating the unique benefits of the Humabody^® platform through partnerships with leading biopharmaceutical companies and research institutions within immuno-oncology and other disease areas.

BioNTech

Crescendo and BioNTech signed a global collaboration in January 2022 to discover, develop and commercialise multi-specific precision immunotherapies. The multi-target collaboration leverages Crescendo’s proprietary Humabody VH discovery platform with BioNTech’s multimodal immunotherapy expertise. Targets will be selected by BioNTech and the initial term of the discovery collaboration is three years.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd

Crescendo signed a global, strategic, multi-target collaboration and license agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd in October 2016. The collaboration is for the development and commercialisation of Humabody therapeutics for the treatment of cancer indications with high unmet need. The targets, selected by Takeda, include both immuno-oncology (IO) modulators and Humabody drug conjugates (HDCs) and was expanded in 2019 to include the development of Humabody V_H domains for inclusion in Takeda’s CAR-T therapies.

Zai Lab

The exclusive, worldwide licence agreement between Crescendo and Zai Lab, signed in 2018, enables the development of a first in class, topically-delivered Humabody therapeutic for inflammatory indications, ZL-1102 (formerly CB001). Clinical proof of concept was declared by Zai Lab after a Phase 1b trial in patients with psoriasis. This is the first study to demonstrate penetration of a protein biological therapeutic through psoriatic skin resulting in a clinical response. Zai Lab plans to advance ZL-1102, a fully human VH fragment antibody targeting IL-17A into full development, including registrational studies.

Orano Med

Orano Med is a nuclear biotech company developing innovative therapies in oncology. Orano Med has developed new processes for producing lead-212 (²¹²Pb), a rare radioactive isotope used in Targeted Alpha Therapy (TAT), an innovative approach for developing therapeutics capable of destroying cancer cells through alpha particle emission, while limiting the impact on nearby healthy cells. In March 2020, Crescendo signed a pre-clinical collaboration agreement with Orano Med to exemplify the benefit of Humabody V_H for precise targeting of Orano Med’s Alpha Therapy.

Astellas

Crescendo entered into an agreement with Astellas for discovery and development of novel Humabody therapeutics focused on immune checkpoint inhibitors. Crescendo successfully delivered all the relevant targets.