Selecta Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:SELB), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on unlocking the full potential of biologic therapies by avoiding unwanted immune responses, today announced that it has licensed LMB-100, a next-generation immunotoxin, from the Center for Cancer Research (CCR) at the NCI, part of the National Institutes of Health. LMB-100 contains a potent bacterial toxin that binds to mesothelin, a protein expressed in all mesotheliomas, pancreatic adenocarcinomas and a high percentage of other malignancies, including lung, breast and ovarian cancers.
“This marks yet another major milestone for Selecta as we execute on our strategy to enable a range of proprietary, non-immunogenic biologic therapies using our proprietary immune tolerance platform,” said Werner Cautreels, Ph.D., President, CEO and Chairman of Selecta. “By in-licensing this promising clinical-stage product candidate, we are extending our footprint to include oncology, where the efficacy of many biologic treatments is hampered by immunogenicity. Based on our preclinical work with NCI, we believe a combination treatment of LMB-100 and our proprietary SVP-Rapamycin may allow patients with rare, serious and aggressive forms of cancer to tolerate and benefit from multiple immunotoxin treatment cycles.”