Boston — Voro Therapeutics and Alloy Therapeutics said they have entered into a strategic research collaboration to discover and develop next-generation masked T-cell engager therapeutics for cancer.
The companies said the collaboration will combine Voro’s tumor-activated biologics platform and T-cell engager development expertise with Alloy’s antibody discovery, optimized CD3 antibodies and multispecific engineering capabilities.
The goal is to develop tumor-selective immunotherapies designed to activate immune responses within the tumor microenvironment while limiting activity in healthy tissues.
T-cell engagers have shown promise across multiple cancer types, but their use can be limited by systemic toxicities caused by widespread immune activation. Voro and Alloy said their collaboration is aimed at advancing approaches that could improve the therapeutic index of T-cell engager therapies and broaden their clinical utility.
“T-cell engagers have shown tremendous promise, but their broader impact has been constrained by the same challenge facing many powerful immune therapies: how to deliver potency without unacceptable systemic toxicity,” said Ugur Eskiocak, Ph.D., Co-Founder and CEO of Voro Therapeutics. “We believe tumor-activated T-cell engagers represent the next evolution of the field. By combining Voro’s PrimeBody platform and TCE design expertise with Alloy’s discovery and multispecific engineering capabilities, we aim to create highly potent, tumor-selective therapies that broaden access for patients.”
Voro is developing tumor-activated biologics designed to improve the therapeutic index of immune therapies. Alloy Therapeutics is a biotechnology ecosystem company focused on supporting biologics discovery and development.
“We are excited to collaborate with Voro as they apply their innovative tumor-activated biologics platform to address important challenges in immuno-oncology. By integrating Voro’s differentiated linker and masking technologies with Alloy’s optimized CD3 antibodies and cell engager engineering expertise, we can accelerate the development of next-generation TCEs with potentially best-in-class safety and efficacy. Partnerships like this demonstrate how Alloy’s discovery ecosystem can help enable the next generation of therapeutic innovation,” said Mike Schmidt, Ph.D., CSO of Alloy Therapeutics.
The companies said the collaboration reflects a shared commitment to advancing biologics and developing new therapeutic approaches that could expand the use of T-cell engager therapies.
