Technology

ExacTcell^TM Platform

Our ExacTcell platform and our therapies harness one of nature’s own approaches to eradicating cancer and disease: the cytotoxic or killer T cell. We believe that our patented ExacTcell precision allogeneic T cell development platform has the potential to be a broadly applicable approach for developing convenient and reasonably priced cellular immunotherapies for the treatment of acute viral infections, long-term consequences of viral infections such as Long COVID, viral- and non-viral-induced cancers, and certain neurological disorders.

ExacTcell focuses on the selection and expansion of naturally occurring, genetically unmodified CD8+ CTLs to target multiple, distinct, previously identified antigens present only on infected or malignant cells and to kill those cells.

We believe that by relying on CD8+ CTLs, ExacTcell has the potential to produce an entirely new class of drugs that could present numerous benefits over competitive platforms. In contrast to other approaches, the ExacTcell platform enables a single, specific HLA molecule to be targeted in a clinical product and the specific target peptides to be known with certainty and precision.

CD8+ Cytotoxic T-Lymphocytes

Killer T cells are white blood cells that play a vital role in the immune system’s defense against diseases, including viruses and cancer. Most CTLs, including those developed with ExacTcell, express T cell receptors (“TCRs”), surface proteins that provide each T cell with its unique immune specificity and can recognize and react against specific foreign antigenic peptides of infected or malignant cells, or targets, that are presented in conjunction with an HLA molecule.

Currently available cell-based immunotherapy approaches include both genetically modified and unmodified T cells applied to the treatment of viruses early after transplant and genetically modified chimeric antigen receptor (“CAR”) T cells used to treat a selected subset of malignancies[1]

We believe that to date, these cells have not been harnessed to their full potential for clinical application and that our proprietary approach allows T cell products to be generated with a much higher CD8+ content and better-defined target specificity than existing commercially available approaches.

CD8+ Cytotoxic T lymphocytes identify and kill by recognizing antigenic peptides on the surface of the infected or malignant cells. 

Our Inventions

Highly Efficient Ratio of Doses per Cell Donor

Tevogen’s commercial scale ready first generation manufacturing process already yields a highly efficient ratio of doses per cell donor. The second generation, Tevogen’s proprietary TCR-T process, is expected to dramatically increase the number of doses.

Highly Purified, Target-Specific Cytotoxic CD8+ T Lymphocyte (CTL)

Our patented approach, using pre-defined T cell targets, allows virus infected cells, viral induced cancer cells, and several non-virally induced cancers to be directly targeted by Tevogen’s T cell products. Nature uses this approach to rid us of virus infections. Many cancer cells can be targeted and killed in the same way. 

Technology to Bring Targets for Tevogen’s Allogeneic CD8+ Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes to Cancer Cells Being Marked for Elimination

In some cases, cancer cells may not express an ideal T cell target on their own. It is possible to bring a well-recognized target to the cancer cells using monoclonal antibodies or liposomes. This allows the Tevogen’s target specific cytotoxic T cells to then attack the cancer cells. 

Unlike CAR-T or BITE antibody approaches which recruit a very heterogeneous group of T cells to the tumor, Tevogen’s approach instead focuses a highly purified population of killer T cells on the tumor, with far more potential to accomplish the task of eradicating the cancer. 

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[1] Abed El-Hakim El-Kadiry, Moutih Rafei, and Riam Shammaa, “Cell Therapy: Types, Regulation, and Clinical Benefits,” Frontiers in Medicine (November 2021), 5.