11 February 2021 - - US-based clinical-stage biotech company Repertoire Immune Medicines have forged a research collaboration with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to advance discovery and clinical development in human papillomavirus-positive oropharyngeal (head and neck) cancers, the company said.

Through this collaboration, Dana-Farber and Repertoire aim to identify novel tumor antigen targets relevant to HPV+ head and neck tumors that will be used to inform the development of novel therapeutic candidates.

As part of the collaboration, Dana-Farber will provide blood and tissue samples from patients with newly diagnosed, or with late-stage, recurrent HPV+ oropharyngeal cancer.

Repertoire will use its DECODE platform to identify novel antigens and evaluate tumor antigen expression as well as profile the tumor microenvironment.

The results of this research collaboration will inform Repertoire's selection of tumor antigens for T cell therapy investigation that have the potential to be integrated into clinical trials.

Dana-Farber's engagement is led by Glenn Hanna, M.D., director, Center for Salivary and Rare Head and Neck Cancers, Dana-Farber; Ravindra Uppaluri, M.D., Ph.D., director of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber; and Ann Marie Egloff, Ph.D., Lead Investigator in the Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital and a Dana-Farber affiliate investigator.

This research engagement is the second collaboration between Dana-Farber and Repertoire.

Dana-Farber is currently a site for an ongoing Phase I clinical trial of Repertoire's PRIME IL-15, a novel, autologous, non-genetically modified multiclonal T cell product designed to release IL-15 in a local and sustained manner, limiting systemic exposure and thus improving tolerability.

Sarah Nikiforow, M.D., Ph.D., Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber, is principal investigator on this study.

Repertoire Immune Medicines is a clinical-stage biotechnology company working to unlock and direct the remarkable power of the human immune system to prevent or treat cancer, as well as autoimmune and infectious disease.

The company is founded on the belief that the repertoire of T cell receptor -antigen codes that drive health and disease represents one of the greatest opportunities for innovation in medical science.

Repertoire scientists created and developed the DECODE and DEPLOY suite of technologies, which allow in-depth characterization of TCR-antigen pairs, and the ability to rationally design and develop novel targeted immune medicines.

From its sites in Cambridge, Mass., and Zurich, Switzerland, Repertoire's team of more than 120 is creating a new category of immune medicines enabled from its DECODE discovery platform.

The company's first product in the clinic is a novel multiclonal T cell therapy consisting of naïve, rare T cells derived from the peripheral blood, activated against a curated set of antigens and armed with a proprietary cytokine payload.

Repertoire is in clinical-stage immuno-oncology development, targeting metastatic solid tumors.

In the field of autoimmunity, Repertoire is using its proprietary platform to discover novel epitopes and TCRs from patients with type 1 diabetes. The company is also using its DECODE platform to discover infectious disease antigens and responding T cell clones.