PDC*line Pharma Your partner in immuno-oncology

Eric Halioua, President & CEO of PDC*line Pharma

© PDC*line Pharma

A clinical-stage spin-off of the French Blood Bank (EFS), PDC*line Pharma develops a new class of potent and off-the-shelf therapeutic cancer vaccines based on the only cell line of Dendritic Cells for therapeutic use. With a robust preclinical package and a first-in human phase Ib in melanoma, PDC*line Pharma is initiating clinical development firstly in lung cancer with a new candidate (PDC*lung) and have a third product in preclinical development targeting neoantigens (PDC*neo).

Based on a technology developed at the French Blood Bank (EFS) with an ongoing R&D activity in France and a French subsidiary, PDC*line Pharma has deployed its R&D, QC, clinical and Corporate activities in Liège. After taking over the manageme+nt in 2016, the serial entrepreneur Eric Halioua gave a new breath of life to the team that quickly reached 23 people and remains in strong growth. The spin-off has already obtained € 17 million in capital and subsidies from the Walloon Region and other French/European organizations PDC*line Pharma has chosen to position itself in a sector currently very promising: that of immuno-oncology. Its approach is unique since it has developed an exclusive cell line of Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells (PDC*line), a ground-breaking 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 DC-based 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.

Currently, three anti-cancer drug candidates have been 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. 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 first candidate PDC*lung for non-small cell lung cancer represents a significant market in the US and EU: 380,000 new cases per year, leading cause of cancer deaths, and potential sales of about € 1.6 BN. This drug candidate may also be used for other cancers that express the same antigens.

On top of that PDC*line Pharma has 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 108M€ (123M$) plus significant single-digit tiered royalties on net sales in Asia. This agreement opens new markets to PDC*line Pharma and expands the global footprint of its PDC*line-based cancer vaccine.

And that's not all: the spin-off is currently preparing a funding round to fund a phase Ib/II trial evaluating PDC*lung’s safety and biological activity, with and without anti-PD1. This study will cover 66 patients in France and Belgium. Both countries have already given their approval. To be sure, this is a new development phase for PDC*line Pharma and a new healing opportunity for patients.

© PDC*line Pharma

PDC*line Pharma SA CHU - Tour 5 (B34) - GIGA Avenue de l'Hôpital 11 - B-4000 Liège Tel.: +32(0)4 242 77 56 Email: contact@pdc-line-pharma.com https://www.pdc-line-pharma.com/