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PDC*line Pharma
Eric Halioua, President & CEO of PDC*line Pharma
PDC*line Pharma (www.pdc-line-pharma.com) is a clinical-stage spin-off of the French Blood Bank (EFS) that develops a new class of potent and off-the-shelf therapeutic cancer vaccines based on a proprietary cell line of Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells (PDC*line). Based on a robust preclinical package and a first-in-human phase Ib in melanoma, PDC*line Pharma has initiated a clinical development in lung cancer with a new candidate (PDC*lung) and a preclinical development of a neoantigens based candidate (PDC*Neo).
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© PDC*line Pharma
ased on a technology developed at the French Blood Bank (EFS), with a subsidiary in France notably in charge of some R&D activities, PDC*line Pharma has deployed its R&D, QC, clinical and Corporate activities in Liège (Belgium). After taking over the management and founded the Belgian Headquarter in 2016, the successful serial entrepreneur Eric Halioua gave a new breath of life to the team that quickly reached 25 people and remains in strong growth. The Spin-off has raised nearly €31.5 M (19.5 M€ in equity and 12 M€ of non-dilutive money). In December 2019, the company closed a 20M€ B-Round of financing led by the multi-billion Asian VC KIP (Korea Investment Partners). PDC*line Pharma has chosen to position itself in a sector currently very promising: that of immuno-oncology in general and cancer vaccines in particular. Its approach is unique since it is based on an exclusive allogeneic cell line of Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells (PDC*line), a groundbreaking solution to address the scalability, logistic and potency challenges faced by conventional DC-based vaccines. PDC*line is much more potent than conventional DC in priming and boosting fully functional antitumor CD8+ T cells displaying a strong cytotoxic activity against tumor cells. Contrary to autologous DCbased vaccines, it is an off-the-shelf approach, easily scalable at industrial scale. In addition, it is highly versatile, and it is synergetic with anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitors.
2020, the company got the same authorization in Germany. The clinical trial is currently ongoing with a first cohort of patients completed in September 2020. The third candidate, PDC*neo, is currently being developed at the preclinical stage. The prospects for development are good for PDC*line Pharma: the PDC*line technology is a platform that can be used for the treatment of virtually all cancer patients expressing HLA-A2 (50% of EU population, and 36% of US) - with extension possibilities to other HLAs. The revenues potential is in the range of € 3 BN to € 4.5 BN in the US and EU. The company’s candidate PDC*lung for non-small cell lung cancer represents a significant market in the US and EU: 380,000 new cases per year, a leading cause of cancer deaths, and potential sales of about € 1.6 BN. This drug candidate may also be used for the treatment of other cancers that express the same antigens.
Currently, three anti-cancer drug candidates are being developed from PDC*line. PDC*mel, the first candidate for melanoma, was evaluated in a first-in-human phase Ib trial, ended in 2017, demonstrating the safety of the product, the absence of allogeneic rejection and its biological activity. PDC*lung, the leading candidate for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), is constituted of PDC*line cells loaded with HLA-A2 restricted peptides derived from seven shared tumor antigens. In June 2019, the company got an authorization to launch an open-label, dose-escalation, phase I/II trial with PDC*lung(01) in non-small cell lung cancer in Belgium and France (with and without anti-PD-1). In November
On top of that PDC*line Pharma has been granted exclusive license in South Korea and exclusive option in other Asian countries to LG Chem Life Sciences Company (the life science division of the Korean Geant LG), for the development and commercialization of PDC*lung cancer vaccine. The total deal value is 108 M€ (123 M$) plus significant single-digit tiered royalties on net sales in Asia. This agreement opens new markets in Asia to PDC*line Pharma and expands the global footprint of its PDC*line-based cancer vaccine.
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© PDC*line Pharma
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Your partner in immuno-oncology
© PDC*line Pharma
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PDC*line Pharma SA
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CHU - Tour 5 (B34) - GIGA Avenue de l'Hôpital 11 - 4000 Liège Tel.: +32(0)4 242 77 56 Email: contact@pdc-line-pharma.com https://www.pdc-line-pharma.com/
