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 Rab-GTPases, a protein crucial in endocytosis, impact ADC efficacy in patients. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that quantification of specific Rab-GTPases expression can be used as a predictive biomarker for ADC response. We have developed proprietary tools, models and assays that predict the response of ADCs to support precision medicine in oncology.

Discovery/Preclinical

• In vitro cell based models

• Histology studies

• Gene (RNA) /Protein (IHC/IF) expression

• Rab-GTPase RUO kit development

Benefits

• Understand ADC MoA

• Biomarker identification

• Lead candidate selection

• Informed decisions

Clinical trials

• Rab-GTPases biomarker prevalence

• Translational studies

• Clinical trial patient selection and stratification

• Diagnostic kit development

Benefits

• Understand response rate

• Disease/Market strategy

• Decreased risk and costs

• Improved probability of success

Commercial

• Dx/Rx co-launch

• Complementary diagnostics

• Companion diagnostics

Benefits

• Secure reimbursement

• Improved clinical acceptance and adoption

• Differentiation in the market

Management Team

  • 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.

  • With over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, Audun brings deep expertise to diagnostic and therapeutic development, spanning from early research through clinical trials. His background includes international line and project management roles within large pharmaceutical companies, as well as CEO/COO positions in biotech startups.

    Audun possesses a strong track record in product development and technology commercialization. He is inventor of 10 patents in diagnostics and cancer therapy and offers extensive experience in intellectual property strategy and management. Audun holds an MSc in Applied Physics from Linköping Institute of Technology.

  • With more than 20 years of experience, Hans Christian is a seasoned leader with competencies both in cancer diagnostic development combined with a decade of commercial leadership. He has a strong track record of advancing innovative diagnostic solutions , including FDA-approved companion diagnostics and high-impact clinical services across molecular diagnostics, pathology, and early cancer detection.

    His experience spans both entrepreneurial and corporate environments, with deep expertise in development, regulatory, product management, marketing and sales of diagnostics. Hans Christian holds a MSc in Molecular Biology from University of Copenhagen.

Board of Directors

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

We deeply value collaboration.
Reach out and let’s make an impact.