Obsidian Therapeutics
Expanding the reach of TIL therapy
We are a biotechnology company pioneering engineered tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (“TIL”) therapies to deliver transformative outcomes for patients suffering from solid tumor malignancies.
We engineer cytoTIL™ therapies using our proprietary cytoDRiVE® platform technology to express regulated therapeutic proteins to enhance anti-tumor activity.
OUR LEAD CLINICAL PROGRAM
OBX-115, A cytoTIL15™ Cell Therapy
Conventional TIL therapy has led to durable clinical responses in some patients with metastatic melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer, however the widespread clinical benefit has been limited due to efficacy challenges and toxicity concerns associated with required IL2 regimens.
We are advancing a pipeline of novel, engineered cytoTIL therapies to overcome many of these challenges and deliver safer, more effective TIL therapies for more patients.
Our lead clinical program, cytoTIL15 cell therapy (OBX-115), is an engineered TIL product armed with membrane-bound IL15 (mbIL15) to drive improved efficacy, including magnitude and duration of response. By replacing IL2 with mbIL15, cytoTIL15 cell therapy also eliminates the need for concomitant IL2 therapy, a toxic and costly requirement for conventional TILs.
Our Pipeline
cytoTIL
DISCOVERY
PRECLINICAL
PHASE 1
PHASE 2
PHASE 3
OBX-115 Melanoma (single center study)
PHASE: IND Enabling
COMPLETED ENROLLMENT:
NCT05470283
OBX-115
Next-Generation TIL Undisclosed
PHASE: Discovery
Partnered Programs
CD40L Undisclosed
CD40L Undisclosed
PHASE: IND Enabling
Gene Editing Undisclosed
Gene Editing Undisclosed
PHASE: Discovery
cytoDRiVE® PLATFORM
Our proprietary cytoDRiVE® platform leverages drug responsive domains (DRDs) to control protein function using an FDA-approved small molecule.
For a particular protein of interest, Obsidian engineers a gene cassette with a DRD tag, which is then packaged and inserted into the cell. The cell produces fusion protein consisting of the protein to be regulated, fused to a DRD, which is stabilized in the presence of a small molecule ligand. The stabilized fusion protein can be expressed intracellularly, membrane-bound or secreted. In the absence of the small molecule ligand, the DRD assumes a disordered conformation that is recognized by the quality control mechanisms of the cell, resulting in degradation of the fusion protein by the proteasome.
Obsidian has a growing library of internally discovered DRDs of varying sizes and purposes, and Obsidian’s cytoDRiVE® Discovery Platform enables rapid optimization of tunable and functional proteins. We have developed an extensive synthetic biology engineering toolkit to optimize protein functionality in any cell type, including but not limited to, type I/II membrane proteins, membrane-tethered cytokines, intracellular proteins, secreted proteins and genome editing proteins.
OUR PARTNERS
In addition to our wholly owned TIL programs, we have two existing partnerships with Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals leveraging our cytoDRiVE® platform technology. Our platform technology is highly versatile, and we believe there are numerous applications for our core DRD technology across therapeutic areas and modalities. We are open to continuing to explore opportunistic partnerships for our platform technology. For more information, please contact bd@obsidiantx.com.
Bristol Myers Squibb
Obsidian is proud to collaborate with BMS (via acquisition of Celgene) in the discovery and development of novel, regulated cell therapies that utilize Obsidian’s cytoDRiVE technology. This multi-year collaboration provides BMS with the exclusive option to in-license worldwide rights for cell therapy candidates that incorporate regulated CD40L for the treatment of cancer.
In September 2020, Obsidian announced that BMS has exercised its option to an exclusive worldwide license to a cell therapy candidate based on Obsidian’s cytoDRiVE technology for the controlled expression of the immunomodulatory factor CD40L.
In October 2022, Obsidian announced that BMS opted to extend the term of the parties’ multi-year strategic collaboration for the discovery and development of novel, regulated cell therapies that utilize Obsidian’s cytoDRiVE® technology for the controlled expression of the immune enhancer CD40L.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
In April 2021, Obsidian and Vertex Pharmaceuticals entered into a strategic research collaboration and licensing agreement focused on the discovery of novel therapies that regulate gene editing for the treatment of serious diseases. The collaboration leverages Obsidian’s cytoDRiVE platform technology to discover gene-editing medicines whose therapeutic activity can be precisely controlled using small molecules and Vertex’s established scientific and clinical capabilities in small molecule, cell and genetic therapies to more rapidly bring these approaches to patients.
