Avigen, Accelerating Immunotherapy Development

Avigen, a spin-out company of Imperial College London is on a mission to accelerate the development of cellular immunotherapies, which harness the body's immune cells to target and destroy cancer cells. These therapies have shown remarkable potential for treating various cancers. However, selecting the optimal immune cell that will succeed in clinical trials is a challenge in cell therapy development. As a result, a staggering 86% of cellular immunotherapy clinical trials fail after pre-clinical development, primarily due to efficacy and safety concerns stemming from unsuitable cell selection. Each failed clinical trial can cost upwards of £2 billion, jeopardising not only the commercial viability of companies but also delaying access to potentially life-saving treatments for patients. To address this critical issue, Avigen is developing a state-of-the-art microfluidic platform designed to streamline and accelerate the selection process of therapeutic immune cells. This innovative technology leverages fluid shear stress, the force exerted by flowing fluid on cells, to measure the strength of the natural interactions between living immune cells and cancer cells. Unlike conventional techniques that focus solely on the binding strength of individual immune cell receptors, Avigen's platform measures the total molecular binding strength, known as avidity, between hundreds of thousands of cells. The process begins by seeding target cells in a microchannel and introducing immune cells, such as T cells, that bind to them. By gradually increasing shear stress, weakly bound cells detach first, while strongly bound immune cells remain attached longer to the cancer cells. This holistic approach offers deeper insights into how these cells interact in real-time. Cells with high avidity form what's known as an 'immunological synapse'---a specialised junction that powers cell activation and enables the elimination of target cells, positioning avidity as a strong predictor of therapeutic efficacy. What sets Avigen apart is its ability to dramatically reduce the time required to identify and validate crucial immune cells. This novel platform condenses a process that traditionally takes weeks into a streamlined, one-hour operation, enabling researchers to sift through over one million cells simultaneously. Avigen will offer these vital immune cell discovery and validation services to biotech and pharmaceutical companies, empowering them to uncover their next blockbuster drug lying untapped within their R&D pipelines. Avigen is dedicated to advancing cancer immunotherapy development, paving the way for new treatments that improve patient outcomes in the fight against cancer.