WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Palleon Pharmaceuticals, a leading biotech company developing drugs that target glyco-immune checkpoints to treat cancer, today announced that the company, together with the University of Dundee, has successfully defended an opposition to EP1954318, a key European patent owned by the University and exclusively licensed to the company that covers important therapeutic uses of anti-Siglec-9 antibodies. Siglec-9 is a protein found on the surface of various immune cells, including macrophages, dendritic cells, natural killer cells and T cells, that suppresses immune activation. Tumors exploit Siglec-9 to evade the immune response, and blocking this activity with drugs offers a novel strategy to treat cancer. The European patent provides broad patent coverage for Palleon’s Siglec-9 programs.
About Glyco-Immune Checkpoints
Cancer uses multiple pathways
to evade the immune system, and glyco-immune checkpoints are a
significant and under-appreciated axis of immunosuppression in cancer.
Tumors exploit glyco-immune checkpoints, such as Siglec receptors
through the alteration of glycans on the surface of their cells,
impairing both innate and adaptive immune cells and resulting in a
broad, comprehensive suppression of the anti-tumor immune response.
Glyco-immune checkpoints had been overlooked relative to other
anti-cancer strategies due to the complexity of glycoscience, and, until
recently, the lack of scientific tools to demonstrate their function in
cancer immune evasion. Palleon has assembled the technologies needed to
overcome long-standing technical barriers and make drug development in
this field possible.
About Palleon Pharmaceuticals
Palleon Pharmaceuticals is the
leading biotechnology company developing drugs that target glyco-immune
checkpoints to treat cancer. The company’s proprietary EAGLE, CONVERGENCE and HYDRA platforms integrate
technologies and insights from world-renowned scientific leaders in the
glyco-immunology field to create a novel approach to treating cancer. By
enabling an anti-cancer response from multiple immune cell types,
glyco-immune checkpoint inhibition will tackle resistance to existing
immuno-oncology agents and make possible a wider range of rational
combination therapies to treat cancer. Palleon has several cancer drug
discovery programs underway. Beyond oncology, other important areas
where glyco-immune checkpoints may play a role include
neurodegeneration, inflammation, fibrosis and infectious diseases. The
company is advancing its pipeline and development programs with a $47.6
million Series A financing from leading biotech venture investors SR
One, Pfizer Ventures, Vertex Ventures HC, Takeda Ventures and AbbVie
Ventures. Learn more at www.palleonpharma.com.
