Atreca And Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Establish Broad Cancer Immunotherapy R&D Collaboration

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Atreca, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on developing novel therapeutics based on a deep understanding of the human immune response, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute announced today that they have entered into a collaborative research agreement to focus Atreca’s IRC™ technology on the active immune responses of cancer patients whose disease is responding well to immunotherapy and other treatments. The research will apply Atreca’s Immune Repertoire Capture® (IRC™) technology, which identifies and generates sequences of functional, native antibodies and T cell receptors (TCRs) from active human immune responses.

A team of scientists led by F. Stephen Hodi, M.D., Director of the Melanoma Center and Center for Immuno-Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, will collaborate with Atreca to study how different immunotherapies generate an active immune response, to understand why only a subset of patients benefit from therapy, and to identify anti-tumor antibodies generated in these responses. The study will focus on patients with melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and renal cell cancer, with the potential to expand into other cancer types.

“We are excited to collaborate with the accomplished team at Atreca. Through this unique collaboration, we believe we can work together to accelerate the discovery and development of novel therapeutic agents and treatment paradigms with the potential to improve patient outcomes in diverse cancer indications,” stated Dr. Hodi.

“It is a thrilling opportunity for us to partner with one of the world’s leading institutions advancing cancer treatment,” said Tito A. Serafini, Ph.D., Atreca’s President, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Founder. “Previous peer-reviewed findings have demonstrated that our IRC™ technology delivers valuable data from the active immune responses of patients. We believe the collaboration with Dana-Farber, focused on generating such actionable data, will make an important contribution to our immuno-oncology therapeutics programs.”

Atreca applies IRC™ to generate sequences of native antibodies and TCRs from cancer patients, patients with autoimmune disease, vaccinated subjects, and patients who resolve infections. Analyses of the resulting essentially unbiased and error-free repertoires yield valuable insights, as well as potent antibodies targeting tumors, pathogens, and autoimmune epitopes.

About Atreca, Inc.

Atreca is a privately held biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics drawn from human immune responses, including effective anti--cancer immune responses. We are able to measure and analyze the structure of clinically relevant immune responses to identify the antibodies, T cell receptors, and targets that are key to successful treatment outcomes. Atreca’s proprietary Immune Repertoire Capture® technology profiles a patient’s immune response at the single-cell level at very high throughput essentially without bias or error, enabling the identification and generation of functional human antibodies and TCRs without prior knowledge of antigen. The Company is advancing a pipeline of candidates designed to engage the human immune response in oncology and other indications, thus driving better therapeutic outcomes. For more information on Atreca, please visit www.atreca.com.

About Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

From achieving the first remissions in childhood cancer with chemotherapy in 1948, to developing the very latest new therapies, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is one of the world’s leading centers of cancer research and treatment. It is the only center ranked in the top 4 of U.S. News and World Report’s Best Hospitals for both adult and pediatric cancer care.

Dana-Farber sits at the center of a wide range of collaborative efforts to reduce the burden of cancer through scientific inquiry, clinical care, education, community engagement, and advocacy. Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center provides the latest in cancer care for adults; Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center for children. The Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center unites the cancer research efforts of five Harvard academic medical centers and two graduate schools, while Dana-Farber Community Cancer Care provides high quality cancer treatment in communities outside Boston’s Longwood Medical Area.

Dana-Farber is dedicated to a unique, 50/50 balance between cancer research and care, and much of the Institute’s work is dedicated to translating the results of its discovery into new treatments for patients locally and around the world.