Advancing drug development

A substantial proportion of solid tumours (pancreatic, lung, colon, triple negative breast cancer, etc.) currently have few, if any, treatment options available. A unique invention made by A*STAR has demonstrated that a large subset (60-80%) of such solid tumours grow and metastasize by cutting the extracellular matrix with a cellular “knife” called calnexin and that killing these knife-wielding cells could be a new paradigm in cancer treatment. A*STAR scientists have demonstrated that the same cellular “knife” involved in cancer spreading is also responsible for cartilage degradation – both in rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. This presented a unique opportunity to develop a neutralizing therapeutic antibody with a novel mechanism of action for those arthritis patients who currently do not have viable treatment options. Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) & Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) and the industry partner Albatroz Therapeutics have entered into a collaboration to co-develop first-in-class “anti-knife” therapeutic antibody candidates within established biologics drugs modalities (for arthritis – neutralizing antibodies; for cancer – neutralizing antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs)). This treatment approach is novel and not addressed by other market players.