ImmunoCellular Therapeutics completes humanization of its ICT-37 and ICT-109 antibody candidates

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. (OTCBB: IMUC), a clinical-stage biotechnology company that is developing immune based therapies for the treatment of brain and other cancers, announced today that it has completed humanization of ICT-37 and ICT-109. This humanization was done in collaboration with Antitope, a privately held, UK based biotechnology company providing services in the areas of immunogenicity testing, antibody humanization and protein engineering for the purpose of reducing immunogenicity with therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. The collaboration has resulted in two novel antibodies targeting CEACAM5 alone and CEACAM5 and CEACAM6, two commonly expressed genes present in malignant cells specific to colon cancer, small cell lung cancer and pancreatic cancer. Humanization is designed to increase acceptance of antibodies by host immune systems, which was achieved through Antitope’s Composite Human Antibody^TM Technology which replaces murine sequences with human sequences in order to prevent the immune system from attacking it as a foreign threat, and is a crucial step in the development of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies.

“We are excited to have had the opportunity to work with Antitope and to have completed humanization of ICT-37 and ICT-109, as their cancer fighting potential continues to increase with each developmental milestone,” said Manish Singh, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of IMUC. “IMUC will retain all rights to the humanized antibodies and will explore partnering opportunities with companies that may be interested in small cell lung, pancreatic and colon cancer targeting opportunities as we continue to seek the fastest path to FDA approval for these potentially revolutionary therapies,” concluded Dr. Singh.

Comparisons with murine antibodies following humanization of ICT-37 and ICT-109 have demonstrated similarly high binding affinity to malignant targets, suggesting comparable efficacy following the procedure. Unlike antibodies currently being developed against these targets by other companies, IMUC’s antibodies uniquely target glycosylated structures present on malignant cells, making them potentially highly specific towards cancer cells and less destructive of surrounding healthy tissues.