ImaginAb, Inc., a leading clinical-stage immuno-oncology imaging company has announced the signing of a multi-party collaboration agreement with AstraZeneca, Pfizer Inc. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda) focused on furthering the clinical development of ImaginAb’s CD8 ImmunoPET technology.

Using its ‘Minibody’ platform, ImaginAb’s technology targets and visualizes CD8+ T cells to provide highly-specific, quantitative assessment of the immunological status of each cancer lesion within a patient, potentially enabling treatment to be tailored quickly and specifically to the needs of that patient.

Under the terms of the agreement, the collaborators will help guide a current ImaginAb-sponsored clinical trial that aims to evaluate the utility and value of CD8 ImmunoPET in immuno-oncology drug development. In return, the collaborators will gain early access to clinical and imaging data and collectively contribute to the post-trial data analysis.

Commenting on the agreement, Ian Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of ImaginAb, said: “One of our key objectives is to streamline the clinical development of next-generation cancer immunotherapies so that ultimately cancer patients have access to the best possible treatments. We believe that working with global leaders in immuno-oncology will help us further develop CD8 ImmunoPET as a pharmacodynamic marker for use in drug development and, in the future, as a diagnostic and predictive test for use in hospitals.”

Chris Arendt, Head of the Oncology Drug Discovery Unit at Takeda, said: “We are excited to participate in this pre-competitive alliance, which brings together a rich network of expertise and resources to develop and evaluate an imaging tracer for CD8+ T cells. The ability to track, both spatially and temporally, immune responses associated with novel immuno-oncology therapies and relate these to anti-tumor responses in patients has the potential to deepen our understanding of the cancer immunity cycle and how it can be leveraged for curative intent, which is the primary focus of our oncology research efforts at Takeda.”