SATT Nord and Apmonia Therapeutics have signed an exclusive license agreement for the commercialization of an innovative peptide in oncology.
Research conducted in recent years has shown that the CD47 cell receptor promotes tumor progression by acting as a pro-cancer signal integrator regulating various biological processes.
In particular, the activation of CD47 by TSP-1 (thrombospondin-1) plays a key role in angiogenic processes and in the immune response, making the TSP-1:CD47 interaction a pharmacological target of interest for the development of therapeutic tools against tumor progression and metastatic spread.
In this context, research conducted since 2008 at the CNRS 7369 MEDyC joint research unit at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne by a team of researchers including Prof. Stéphane DEDIEU and Dr. Albin JEANNE has led to the development of a new antagonist peptide that inhibits the binding of TSP-1 to its CD47 receptor (the TAX2 peptide), reducing tumor vascularization, inducing an anti-metastatic response, and activating an immune response directed against cancer cells.
SATT Nord financed the maturation of the project initiated by Prof. Stéphane DEDIEU's team, enabling the proof of concept for the therapeutic use of this drug candidate to be consolidated and extended.
Following these promising results, the young Reims-based company Apmonia Therapeutics, led by Albin JEANNE and incubated at Innovact (a member of the SEMIA network), has signed an exclusive license agreement covering the exploitation of patents relating to the therapeutic use of the TAX2 peptide.
Apmonia Therapeutics is a biotechnology company dedicated to developing cancer immunotherapy strategies. Its objectives are to accelerate the preclinical regulatory and clinical development of the TAX2 peptide, while maintaining research and development activities to strengthen the company's assets.