Asgard Therapeutics’ project awarded € 2 million by EUREKA Eurostars
SmiLe Incubator company Asgard Therapeutics collaborates with Lund University and two European contract research organizations in the project REPRogramming tumors INTo immune cells: a revolutionary gene therapy to treat cancer.
The three-year proposal was ranked #4 out of 644 European applications for Eurostars Cut off 15, and is thereby securing a grant of 2 million euros.
REPRogramming tumors INTo immune cells – REPRINT aims to validate Asgard Therapeutics’ TrojanDC gene therapy efficacy and safety – using mouse models and custom 3D human culture systems.
Asgard Therapeutics coordinates the collaboration and delivers TrojanDC, a novel gene therapy for hard-to-treat solid tumors. TrojanDC is administered within tumors and employs a unique mode-of-action, in which cancer cells are reprogrammed into dendritic cells, a special type of immune cell that orchestrates potent specific anti-tumor immune responses.
“We are really pleased to start this collaboration and work with a consortium of partners that bring their expertise together to accelerate TrojanDC development. We will be able to demonstrate TrojanDC’s efficacy and safety, and thereby enabling GMP-like production and regulatory filing for first-in-human studies,” says Cristiana Pires, CEO and co-founder of Asgard Therapeutics.
For more information:
Cristiana Pires, co-founder and CEO Asgard Therapeutics, +46(0)731 566 072 or cristiana.pires@asgardthx.com
Asgard Therapeutics was founded in 2018 as a spin-off from Lund University aiming to advance cancer immunotherapies by developing a paradigm-shifting gene therapy – TrojanDC. Driven by the urgent need for new cost-effective immunotherapies consistently effective in a broad range of patients, Asgard is developing the world’s first cancer immunotherapy based on direct cell reprogramming, forcing cancer cells to become immunogenic and unleashing the immune system against cancer.
Learn more at asgardthx.com and follow us on Twitter @AsgardThx.
LSCC, Lund University – Lund University Stem Cell Center (LSCC) is one of six Swedish strategic centers of excellence in life sciences. Dr. Filipe Pereira is head of the Cell Reprogramming in Hematopoiesis Group of the LSCC and considered an influential researcher in the cell reprogramming field with >45 publications, >3,300 citations. Find more at http://www.pereiralab.com/.
EUREKA Eurostars– is a publicly funded intergovernmental network with an aim to foster innovation-driven entrepreneurship in EU between both small and large industries, research institutes and universities. For more information visit https://www.eurekanetwork.org/countries/sweden/eurostars/.
Asgard Therapeutics’ team at the new lab at SmiLe Incubator: Fábio Rosa, Cristiana Pires, Filipe Pereira, Lars Hedbys, Gunnar Gårdemyr and Christine Widstrand (from left to right).