Endocyte, a developer of targeted small molecule drug conjugates (SMDCs) and companion imaging agents for personalized therapy, announced their plan to collaborate with Seattle Children’s Research Institute and Dr. Michael Jensen for the development of Endocyte’s SMDC platform in the chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T-cell) immunotherapy setting through the use of Endocyte’s proprietary SMDC bi-specific adaptor molecules.

The aim of the research collaboration is to join Endocyte’s SMDC bi-specific adaptor technology with the CAR T-cell immunotherapy research efforts at the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, to move these potentially enabling technologies more quickly to patients in the clinic. Dr. Jensen, a recognized leader in the field of CAR T-cell research, is the director of Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research and the Janet and Jim Sinegal Endowed Chair in Pediatric Solid Tumor Research at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, and a professor of hematology-oncology at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

"This partnership brings together Dr. Jensen’s expertise in the discovery and development of CAR T-cell therapies and Endocyte’s SMDC platform, with the aim of improving the efficacy and safety of CAR T-cell therapies and enabling them in solid tumor indications," said Mike Sherman, president and CEO of Endocyte. "Together, Seattle Children’s Research Institute and Endocyte hope to make a meaningful difference in shaping the future of CAR T-cell therapies and offering an important new treatment option to cancer patients."

"This collaborative project with Endocyte represents a next-generation CAR T-cell therapeutic platform with exciting opportunities to target solid tumors," said Dr. Michael Jensen. "We have been impressed with the potential of Endocyte’s bi-specific adaptor molecules, which enable the engineering of a single universal CAR T-cell that binds with very high affinity, potentially allowing us to address several key challenges of current therapies in this novel area of development."

Research and development activities under the collaboration will be led by Dr. Michael Jensen and Dr. Phil Low, chief scientific officer at Endocyte and professor of chemistry and director of the Center for Drug Discovery at Purdue University.