China-based Harbour BioMed has entered into a multi-year, multifaceted research collaboration agreement with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School in the US, to co-develop novel biotherapies in cancer treatment. 

Harbour BioMed scientists and Dana-Farber researchers will be working together to develop novel oncologic drugs, including bispecific antibodies and CAR-T cell products. In recent years, bispecific antibodies and CAR-T cell therapies are both considered as the next-generation solutions in the tumor immunology field.

For their ability to engage two different targets, bispecific antibodies are expected to extend the possibilities of monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapeutics, and CAR-T cell therapy is an innovative immunotherapy that uses specially altered T-cells to redirect them to target cancer cells.

This strategic collaboration will leverage Harbour BioMed's transgenic Harbour Mice® platform with Dana-Farber's expertise in CAR-T cell development and basic oncology research to generate novel biotherapies.

Harbour BioMed's antibody technology platforms - Harbour Mice^®, which is based on two proprietary transgenic mouse platforms will be utilized to generate human therapeutic antibodies. The platforms have broad potential for generating both conventional as well as next-generation biologics, such as bi- and multi-specifics, CAR-Ts or VH domain-derived products that are fully human, affinity matured with excellent solubility and developability.