On December 18, 2024 TigaTx, Inc., a biotechnology company developing a therapeutic platform technology of engineered Immunoglobulin A (IgA) monoclonal antibodies to address a broad range of diseases, reported that the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) has awarded TigaTx up to $33.5 million in funding (Press release, TigaTx, DEC 18, 2024, View Source [SID1234654374]). Separately, TigaTx was awarded a two-year, $2 million Direct to Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the U.S. National Institutes of Health under award number R44CA291266.
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Many immune cell types, such as T cells, NK cells, and macrophages, are currently engaged by anti-cancer therapies, resulting in successful outcomes for cancer patients. However, neutrophils, the first line of defense in infection and inflammation, are the most abundant immune cells in human circulation and have not yet been harnessed by cancer therapies. Beyond their abundance, neutrophils possess other ideal characteristics as anti-cancer effector cells. They are innate killer cells, and they cross talk with other cells of the innate and adaptive immune system, thereby, further propagating the anti-tumor cascade.
TigaTx’s novel, proprietary platform technology leverages engineered monomeric IgA to bind to and potently activate neutrophils, unleashing their powerful anti-tumor killing ability to treat cancer. TigaTx’s technology yields IgA molecules that have drug-like properties and overcomes historical challenges associated with manufacturing IgA.
The ARPA-H and SBIR funding will allow TigaTx to advance its lead program, TIGA-001, an IgA anti-EGFR neutrophil engager, into the clinic to generate clinical proof-of-concept data for the engineered IgA platform. While anti-EGFR IgGs and tyrosine kinase inhibitors are approved for colon, lung, and head and neck cancers, less than 25% of patients respond, and even for those patients who do respond, their cancer will typically recur. TIGA-001’s distinct neutrophil activation-targeted mechanism of action has the potential to benefit patients with resistance or intolerance to approved anti-EGFR therapies.
In parallel, the ARPA-H award will enable TigaTx to expand its engineered IgA platform to treat infectious diseases. With increasing emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria and persistent and emergent viral threats, TigaTx will develop secretory, dimeric IgA as a new therapeutic class for infectious diseases.
"We’re thrilled to announce this funding from ARPA-H and NIH, which provides important external validation of the breakthrough potential of our IgA monoclonal antibody platform and its first-in-class therapeutic applications," said Anne Altmeyer, Ph.D., President and CEO of TigaTx. "This funding will allow us to validate our platform by generating clinical proof-of-concept data for our lead oncology program, TIGA-001. The funding will also enable us to expand our IgA platform technology to other high-unmet-need indications both in oncology and infectious diseases."
Howard Stern, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of TigaTx, commented, "Engineered IgA neutrophil engagers have the potential to revolutionize the treatment of cancer by harnessing neutrophils’ innate killing power. Further expanding our IgA platform to dimeric IgA opens a new frontier to address the growing threat of communicable diseases."
Under the ARPA-H funding, TigaTx will collaborate with several prestigious academic institutions and world-renowned oncology and immunology researchers to further characterize engineered IgA’s mechanism of action and develop additional proof-of-concept in cutting-edge preclinical models. Collaborating institutions include:
Weill Cornell Medicine
Taha Merghoub, Ph.D., Deputy Director of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center; Margaret and Herman Sokol Professor of Oncology Research; Professor of Pharmacology and Professor of Immunology Research in Medicine; Co-Director of the Ludwig Collaborative and Swim Across America Laboratory; Co-Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Weill Cornell Medicine
Jedd D. Wolchok, M.D., Ph.D., FAACR, FASCO, Meyer Director of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center; Professor of Medicine; Co-Director of the Ludwig Collaborative and Swim Across America Laboratory; Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Weill Cornell Medicine; Oncologist at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center
Daniel Hirschhorn, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Research in Pharmacology
Yale School of Medicine
Richard Flavell, Ph.D., FRS, Sterling Professor of Immunobiology; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Esen Sefik, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Immunobiology; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellow
Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center (Jerusalem, Israel)
Zvi Fridlender, M.D. M.Sc, Head, Department of Internal Medicine D, Head Laboratory of Lung Cancer Research
The content of this release is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) or the National Institutes of Health.