Navigo Proteins, a premier protein engineering company developing optimized scaffold protein-based affinity ligands from its Precision Targeting toolbox announces the extension of their ongoing partnership with ITM SE, a leading radiopharmaceutical biotech company. Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, the companies work together to develop targeted radiopharmaceutical candidates for the treatment of cancer by combining Navigo’s Affilin® ligands with ITM’s high-quality medical radioisotopes. The partnership will now be further strengthened by the addition of another targeted radionuclide therapy project in the precision oncology field.
Henning Afflerbach, CEO of Navigo Proteins commented: “We have very promising ongoing projects with ITM, and this continuation and expansion of our partnership validates our Affilin® based approach for creating pure and precise next-generation radiotherapeutics. Navigo’s Precision Targeting toolbox allows the design and development of highly homogenous, Affilin® radio conjugates with fine tunable half-lives. The long-standing, successful relationship with ITM as a leading partner in precision oncology is a further step on our way to deliver best-in-class targeted radionuclide therapies.”
“We are delighted to continue working with Navigo Proteins and building upon our productive partnership. Our high-quality radioisotopes coupled with Navigo’s Affilin® ligands have the opportunity to unlock an array of precision oncology therapeutics to help patients living with hard-to-treat tumors by positively impacting current treatment algorithms,” commented Steffen Schuster, CEO of ITM.
Affilin® ligands enable flexible design of short and long half-life radio conjugates for imaging and therapeutic applications. The target-specific, best-in-class Affilin® ligands are a perfect fit for ITM’s precision oncology pipeline covering a range of cancer indications, including neuroendocrine tumors, prostate cancer, glioblastoma, osteosarcoma and bone metastases, as well as folate receptor α positive tumors like lung, ovarian or breast cancer.
About Navigo Proteins GmbH
Navigo Proteins is a premier protein engineering company developing optimized affinity ligands, based on its proprietary platform of selected, small, and stable, yet highly engineerable scaffold proteins. These ligands serve as target-binding proteins in biotherapeutic molecules (PRECISION TARGETING) or for commercial custom affinity purification of biologics (PRECISION CAPTURING®).
Precision Targeting delivers proprietary Affilin® molecules based on human ubiquitin protein as a scaffold – a highly conserved, small (8.5 kDa) and stable, natural, human protein, also present in plasma. Going beyond the creation of target-binding Affilin® molecules, Precision Targeting also provides a versatile toolbox to design customized, next-generation biotherapeutics. A major strength of the Precision Targeting toolbox is its modular engineerability. The target-specific Affilin® molecules can be combined with a variety of carrier units for site-specific payload coupling as well as custom half-life extension moieties and varying function-conferring effector modules. Navigo has chosen to develop its Affilin® ligands in four different fields of use, protein-drug conjugates, radiotherapeutics, CAR-T cell therapy and targeted exosome therapy, to deliver best-in-class alternatives to conventional technologies. The toolbox also enables the expansion of existing technologies. Affilin® molecules can, for example, be fused to antibodies to create robust-to-produce bi-and multi-specific molecules (Mabfilin™/Fabfilin™).
About ITM Isotope Technologies Munich SE
ITM, a privately held radiopharmaceutical biotech company founded in 2004, is dedicated to providing the most precise cancer radiotherapeutics and diagnostics to meet the needs of patients, clinicians and our partners through excellence in development, production and global supply. With patient benefit as the driving principle for all we do, ITM is advancing a broad pipeline combining its high-quality radioisotopes with targeting molecules to develop precision oncology treatments. ITM is leveraging its leadership and nearly two decades of radioisotope expertise combined with its worldwide network to enable nuclear medicine to reach its full potential for helping patients live longer and better.
