Eureka Therapeutics Inc. announced on 7/17/18 that Boehringer Ingelheim has elected to exercise an option for the exclusive license of novel human TCR-mimicking (TCRm) antibodies against an undisclosed target to be used for the potential development and commercialization of therapies for cancer patients. The licensed TCRm antibodies were developed under a research collaboration and license agreement between Eureka Therapeutics and Boehringer Ingelheim established in 2015.

"We are delighted that Boehringer Ingelheim has exercised its option to license these antibodies,” said Dr. Cheng Liu, President and Chief Executive Officer of Eureka Therapeutics. “This is further validation of our proprietary E-ALPHA® platform, as well as the potential of TCRm antibodies to target intracellular antigens, which we believe can be an effective approach in recognizing and killing cancer cells -- particularly in areas of significant unmet medical need.”

Monoclonal antibodies that are currently incorporated into CAR constructs used in the clinic can only recognize and bind to molecules that are present on the surface of cells, while most tumor-specific antigens for solid cancers are intracellular and are therefore generally considered difficult to target using current antibody-based therapies. TCRm antibodies, on the other hand, recognize epitopes similar to those of T-cell receptors (TCR) by targeting cancer-specific peptides broken down from intracellular tumor antigens and displayed on the cell surface by the major histocompatibility complex (MHC).

Eureka’s E-ALPHA® antibody discovery platform comprises a highly diverse human-derived antibody phage library containing over 100 billion clones with unique antibody sequences and a robust workflow with specificity screens designed to develop highly specific antibodies against target antigens.

Eureka has three candidates in preclinical and clinical development.