TC BIOPHARM, the Scots company bidding to tackle cancer using immunotherapy techniques, is to open an office in Japan as it targets continuing expansion in Asia.
The move comes just days after Motherwell-based TCB announced it had teamed up with Nipro Corporation, a Japanese pharmaceutical company, to fund a new therapy targeting blood cancers.
TCB’s pioneering treatments centre broadly on cultivating the healthy cells of cancer patients in mass numbers, before introducing them to the body to tackle the disease.
The company has gradually been building its presence in Asia since it was founded by Dr Michael Leek in 2014, shortly after which it received funding from Medinet, a Tokyo-based biotech company, to help progress its clinical studies in the UK.
The Scottish company has worked closely with Osaka’s Cell Science & Technology Institute, which has helped TCB’s development of cell-based therapies to treat cancer, and was backed by an $8 million equity round led by Nipro last year. Along with the Scottish Investment Bank, Nipro has contributed the majority of TCB’s series-A fundraising. The deal announced with Nipro last week will see the companies develop a novel immunotherapy product using TCB’s CAR-T platform; it is based on unique properties of modified gamma delta T cells to target cancer while leaving healthy cells untouched. The aim is to treat cancers and major viral disease. TCB’s Japanese operation will be based at the Kanagawa Life Innovation Centre at Tonomachi, a biotech cluster in Kawasaki City.
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