Abstract 2789: Development of highly potent T-cell receptor bispecifics with picomolar activity against tumor-specific HLA ligands

The rebirth of epitope-based patent claims

BACKGROUND

Patent protection of therapeutic antibodies and T cell receptors is an important tool to enable the path to the market. In view of the substantial spendings for R&D and regulatory approval, sponsors expect exclusivity for their drug for a given period of time. Different categories exist to protect therapeutic antibodies and T cell receptors. One of these categories are epitope-based patent claims, with regard to which in the different jurisdictions, different patentability standards exist, which, furthermore, are constantly changed by courts and lawmakers.

OBJECTIVE

This article tries to explain the patentability issues related to epitope-based patent claims.

METHODS

For this purpose, an overview is given on the respective legal provisions and court decisions.

RESULTS

The study reveals that the respective patentability standards are constantly changed by courts and lawmakers.

CONCLUSIONS

Companies developing therapeutic antibodies or T cell receptors need to consider these developments in their strategic planning.

TCR mimic compounds for pHLA targeting with high potency modalities in oncology

pHLA complexes represent the largest class of cell surface markers on cancer cells, making them attractive for targeted cancer therapies. Adoptive cell therapies expressing TCRs that recognize tumor specific pHLAs take advantage of the unique selectivity and avidity of TCR: pHLA interactions. More recently, additional protein binding domains binding to pHLAs, known as TCR mimics (TCRm), were developed for tumor targeting of high potency therapeutic modalities, including bispecifics, ADCs, CAR T and -NK cells. TCRm compounds take advantage of the exquisite tumor specificity of certain pHLA targets, including cell lineage commitment markers and cancer testis antigens (CTAs). To achieve meaningful anti-tumor responses, it is critical that TCRm compounds integrate both, high target binding affinities and a high degree of target specificity. In this review, we describe the most advanced approaches to achieve both criteria, including affinity- and specificity engineering of TCRs, antibodies and alternative protein scaffolds. We also discuss the status of current TCRm based therapeutics developed in the clinic, key challenges, and emerging trends to improve treatment options for cancer patients treated with TCRm based therapeutics in Oncology.