The initiative aims to advance the development of new therapeutic options for breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and head and neck cancer.
The consortium formed by SunRock Biopharma and the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) has been awarded the 2021 Public-Private Collaboration Projects call from the State Research Agency. Both entities are jointly participating in the TRADBI project, which seeks new BISPECIFIC ANTIBODIES TARGETING HER3 FOR THE TREATMENT OF AGGRESSIVE TUMORS, funded with 1.7 million euros from the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan.
Cancer is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with over 19 million new cases and 10 million deaths worldwide in 2020. Despite advances in survival due to the introduction of immunotherapy treatments, there are still limitations in patients who do not respond or develop resistance to these therapies, making it necessary to develop new approaches to overcome these deficiencies.
In this regard, the TRADBI project will use a completely novel perspective to accelerate the arrival of a new, more effective and safe biological drug for the treatment of solid tumors such as breast cancer, colorectal cancer, or head and neck cancer. It is a next-generation antibody-drug-conjugate (ADC) that will be developed from SunRock Biopharma’s SRB19 antibody, a molecule targeting HER3 and EGFR, which has already demonstrated its high efficacy in preclinical models. This combination increases the antitumor efficacy of the treatment and reduces both the adverse effects of chemotherapy and the appearance of associated resistances.
This consortium brings together SunRock’s capacity for the development of innovative therapeutic antibodies with the experience of VHIO’s Tumor Biomarkers Group in identifying predictive tumor biomarkers in patients. The consortium also counts on the clinical leadership of Dr. Javier Cortés (IBCC) as a reference in the treatment of breast cancer, who will complete the transition of this new compound (SRB19-ADC) from its earliest stages of development to the arrival at clinical phases. The results of the TRADBI project will be of great significance for the upcoming arrival of this new therapy focused on the treatment of tumors with unmet clinical needs.
