GcCell and ProEnTherapeutics Sign Joint R&D Agreement for Solid Tumor Targeted Cell Therapy

Aiming to Overcome the Limitations of CAR Cell Therapies
with the Application of ArtBody

GcCell announced on September 1 that it had signed a joint research and development agreement with ProEnTherapeutics, a company specializing in the development of protein-based new drugs, on August 29. The agreement aims to discover candidate cell therapies targeting solid tumors.

GcCell-Proentherapeutics

This collaboration seeks to accelerate the development of next-generation cell therapies for solid tumors with high unmet medical needs by combining GcCell's CAR technology and immune cell culture platform with ProEnTherapeutics' proprietary ArtBody platform technology.

'ArtBody' is an antibody-mimetic development platform that enables precise control of binding affinity to antigen proteins, based on its stable structure and broad target expansion capabilities. Through a preliminary compatibility assessment, the two companies confirmed that CARs incorporating ArtBody are effectively expressed in immune cells and exhibit cytotoxic functions by binding to target proteins.

Through this joint research, GcCell plans to continuously expand its solid tumor pipeline targeting new indications, while also broadening the application of ArtBody from CAR-NK therapies to include CAR-T therapies.

Won Sungyong, CEO of GcCell, stated, "We expect to secure new candidate cell therapies for solid tumors through our collaboration with ProEnTherapeutics," adding, "By combining the technological strengths of both companies, we aim to achieve meaningful research outcomes."

Lee Ilhan, CEO of ProEnTherapeutics, also expressed optimism, saying, "By applying ArtBody, it will be possible to develop therapies that overcome the toxicity issues previously identified as limitations of existing CAR cell therapies, while also achieving improved efficacy in solid tumors."