A Predictive Tool for Antibody Drug Conjugates
The right treatments. The right patients.
Antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) are targeted chemotherapy designed to bring the chemotherapeutic drug to the cancer cells while sparing normal tissue.
ADCs are at the forefront of new anticancer treatment with more than 170 different ADCs evaluated in clinical trials and 12 clinically approved. Despite their success, ADCs have complex toxicity profiles and there is a variability of response among patients. Thus, many patients experience suboptimal treatment with severe side effects and a reduced chance of response. There is a critical need to improve ADC patient stratification and select the right treatment to each patient.
The Problem
Current practise in ADC patient selection includes identification of the cancer cell surface marker to which the ADC bind. This practise does not take into account that ADCs needs to be taken up into the cell in order to exert their effect. Our work has focused on identifying intracellular proteins that determine ADC response. We have shown that these proteins can be used as predictive biomarkers for ADCs and thereby refine patient selection and overall response.
The Solution
ADC patient stratification holds profound implications for both cancer treatment and drug development.
Patients
Improved patient selection for ADC treatments will increase the response rate and spare patients that are unlikely to respond from treatment that is not working.
Pharma Companies
Enabling the selection of the right patients for clinical ADC trials, with the potential to increase the response rate and reduce costs and risk in ADC development.
Health Care Providers / Payers
Selecting the right patients has the potential to save significant costs and provide rational use of limited resources.
Finding the right patients
ADCs represent a new era in cancer treatment. However, there is still a pressing need for advanced biomarker insight to optimize patient selection.
Our data show that Rab5, a protein crucial in endocytosis, regulates ADC efficacy. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that quantification of Rab5 expression can be used as a predictive biomarker for ADC response. We aim to develop a technological platform to predict the response of targeted cancer therapy.
Founders
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Researcher and entrepreneur within targeted cancer therapeutics. Strong scientific track record within experimental therapeutics and drug delivery. She is a project group leader at Oslo University Hospial and has a solid network of researchers, clinicians and health science innovators. Anette is PhD and Master of Pharmacy from Oslo University Norway.
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Attending oncologist & senior scientist at Oslo University Hospital and associated professor at University of Oslo. He has more than 20+ years in clinical research and has participated in several clinical committees, working groups & boards. Since 2003 he has been involved, both as principal & co-investigator, in setting up & implementing clinical trials incl. multicentre, randomized phase II studies, and as a national coordinating PI in phase III studies. Olav is dr.med. from University of Bergen, Norway
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Professor, Researcher and innovator within experimental cancer therapy. He has a strong track record on clinical implementation of translational science, and has been fundamental for protected technology behind both Photocure and PCI Biotech.
Professor Berg is Cand real from Oslo University, Norway
Board of Directors
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Medical doctor with extensive experience from the Pharmaceutical Industry. He is chairman of the board for Oslo Cancer Cluster and has solid experience with start- up companies within health science.
Øyvind is dr. med from Oslo University, Norway
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Anne Mathilde Kvamme has a strong track record in clinical drug development and has previously been appointed as Head Clinical Operations at Boehringer Ingelheim Norway. She is team leader for research support at Haukeland University Hospital and NorCRIN Board Member.
Anne Mathilde is Master of Pharmacy from Oslo University, Norway
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Professor, Researcher and innovator within experimental cancer therapy. He has a strong track record on clinical implementation of translational science, and has been fundamental for protected technology behind both Photocure and PCI Biotech.
Professor Berg is Cand real from Oslo University, Norway
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Ole Dahlberg MSc in Genetics with 25+ years’ experience from life science industry including executive leadership roles in international life science companies like Qiagen and Thermo Fisher Scientific, where until 2021 he was the vice-President and general manager with responsibility for the Cell Biology Division. He has co-founded three start-up companies where he has worked on both the commercial and R&D side.
Scientific Advisory Board
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Award-winning Chief Scientific Officer, Committee Member and Senior Leader. She has expertise in the fields of Personalized Medicine and Cancer Diagnostics where she driven innovations and product commercialization for leading biotechnology companies, including multiple Companion Diagnostics products, in partnership with pharma
