CQDM to support a $1.1 million Immune Biosolutions’ research project

CQDM is pleased to announce the funding of a new $1.1 million research project in conjunction with financial contributions from lead industrial partner, Immune Biosolutions, and co-funding from:  Cancer Research Society, Mitacs, Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke and TransferTech. The funds will be used by the Université de Sherbrooke’s Professors Fernand Gobeil, Philippe Sarret and Fernand-Pierre Gendron and their respective teams to further develop Immune Biosolutions’ lead therapeutic antibody candidates to fight cancer.

CQDM is supporting this project through its SynergiQC program, focusing on industrial research through public and private funding, made possible by a financial contribution from the Ministry of Economy, Science and Innovation (MESI) of the Government of Quebec.

Funding will support the demonstration of the in vivo efficacy and safety of novel therapeutic chicken antibodies generated by Immune Biosolutions’ proprietary Nebula™ Platform. This research will demonstrate the disruptive discovery capacity of this platform for potentially effective but still largely unexploited targets due to their complex structure and high conformational variability. The highly specific anti-cancer antibodies developed in this project will target two attractive G-protein-coupled receptors—namely bradykinin receptor B1 (B1R) and neurotensin receptor 1 (NTSR1)—for the treatment of solid cancers such as colorectal and non-small cell lung cancers (for NTSR1), as well as prostate and triple-negative breast cancers (for B1R). This project’s overarching goal is to position these development programs toward clinical studies, providing a springboard for Immune Biosolutions to develop its own candidate humanized antibody pipeline against diseases with high medical unmet needs.

“Professors Gobeil, Sarret and Gendron’s expertise in GPCRs, drug development and cancer research at the Université de Sherbrooke will be key for the validation and optimization of Immune Biosolutions’ lead therapeutics antibodies. The potential of the Nebula Platform for generating therapeutics antibodies is huge, and its validation through this project could pave the way for humanized chicken antibodies to be deployed against many cancers and other diseases currently lacking effective treatments,” said Frederic Leduc, CEO of Immune Biosolutions.

“CQDM is very proud to fund this collaborative project between Immune Biosolutions (an early-stage biotechnology company based in Sherbrooke) and Université de Sherbrooke to develop a game-changing technology to fight cancer. This project encompasses the main purpose of CQDM’s SynergiQc program to fund industrial research within academic settings and allow Quebec-based companies to break new ground while benefiting from the expertise and infrastructure found in Quebec universities,” said Diane Gosselin, CEO of CQDM.

About CQDM
CQDM is a pharma-based consortium whose mission is to fund the development of innovative tools and technologies that accelerate drug discovery. A unique organization, CQDM’s business model is based on a collaborative approach where all stakeholders share the costs of biopharmaceutical research, and benefit from its results. CQDM also provides a common meeting ground where academia, governments and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries converge to address numerous complex medical challenges. Industrial members of CQDM include Merck, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly Canada, Janssen, Novartis Pharma Canada, Sanofi Canada, Servier, Roche, Takeda, as well as from Quebec’s Ministry of Economy, Science and Innovation (MESI) and from the Government of Canada under the Business-Led Networks of Centres of Excellence Program (BL-NCE).

About Immune Biosolutions
Immune Biosolutions (IBio) is an innovative biotech company specialized in the discovery and engineering of humanized chicken antibodies that target proteins with a recognized, yet unexploited, therapeutic potential. IBio’s focus is to improve the odds of antibody discovery against traditionally difficult targets, such as GPCRs and other membranes proteins. Through its Nebula Antibody Platform, Immune Biosolutions generates high-value recombinant antibody portfolios that can target, as well as modulate, membrane proteins. Immune Biosolutions’ current pipeline of therapeutic programs includes three GPCR programs known to be overexpressed in several cancers, and for which IBio is currently validating their therapeutic potential.

About the Cancer Research Society

Founded in 1945, the Cancer Research Society is the first Canadian organization entirely devoted to funding research on all types of cancer. Over the course of its history, the CRS has supported thousands of our country’s best scientific minds who have helped make important strides in the way we prevent, detect, and treat cancer. Since 2000, thanks to the generosity of donors across the country, the CRS distributed over $140 million in research grants.

About Mitacs

Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit organization that has designed and delivered research and training programs in Canada for 19 years. Working with 60 universities, thousands of companies and both federal and provincial governments, Mitacs builds partnerships that support industrial and social innovation in Canada. Open to all disciplines and all industry sectors, projects can span a wide range of areas, including manufacturing, business processes, IT, social sciences, design and more.