TargImmune Therapeutics and Race Oncology announced that they have executed a letter of intent to establish a joint venture called Race Immunotherapeutics (RITX). The joint venture, which will be equally co-owned by both parties, will focus on developing new cancer therapies.
RITX will develop the new therapies based on a TargImmune technology that was in-licensed from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The technology, which can target and kill off cancer cells while also triggering an immune response against the cancer, will be combined with Bisantrene, a chemotherapy developed by Race Oncology. The combination opens up therapeutic opportunities in breast cancer, non-small-cell lung cancer as well as head and neck cancers. Therapies for other types of cancer will be developed at a later stage.
All core development work will be conducted by TargImmune scientists in Basel, and Race Oncology will provide scientific support and its Bisantrene. Any therapies developed by RITX will be equally co-owned by both companies through their ownership of the joint venture.
TargImmune Therapeutics focuses on drug development using novel targeted immunotherapies. It is led by Esteban Pombo-Villar, whose background includes more than 20 years at the Basel-based pharmaceutical giant Novartis.
Race Oncology is a speciality pharmaceutical company headquartered in Melbourne that invests in cancer therapies in late stage development.
