Project description
Advancing first-in-class cancer immunotherapy
Current immunotherapies have limited effectiveness in treating cancer, creating a demand for innovative solutions. Asgard Therapeutics, a pre-clinical start-up, is developing cost-effective cancer immunotherapies through in vivo cell reprogramming. The EU-funded TrojanDC project aims to validate the company’s lead candidate, TrojanDC, an innovative immunotherapy that transforms cancer cells into antigen-presenting dendritic cells. This transformation enables the immune system to recognise and attack cancer cells, potentially overcoming the limitations of existing therapies. The Women TechEU grant will support the development of a roadmap for necessary IND studies and first-in-human clinical trials, as well as the creation of a business plan. The company is poised to advance this first-in-class cancer immunotherapy.
Objective
The Challenge: Cancer remains one of the major challenges to modern medicine affecting one-in-three people in Europe. Available immunotherapies are effective in a limited number of patients and often lose their efficacy due to heterogeneity and lack of tumor-antigen presentation. Despite these shortcomings, the global immune-oncology market is one of the fastest growing therapeutics markets. Large players like Merck, Pfizer, and Novartis have shown to be keen on acquisitions of high-potential technologies. There is thus an urgent need and high demand for innovative cost-effective immunotherapies consistently effective in a broader range of cancer patients.
The innovation: Asgard Therapeutics is a pre-clinical start-up company developing innovative cancer immunotherapies based in in-vivo cell reprogramming. The company is led by the scientific co-founder and CEO Cristiana Pires who, together with her co-founders, pioneered direct reprogramming to induce antigen-presenting dendritic cells. Asgard raised a € 6M seed round of funding to generate proof-of-concept for its lead candidate TrojanDC, a paradigm-shifting immunotherapy that reprograms cancer cells into antigen-presenting dendritic cells, allowing the presentation of their tumor antigens to the immune system, thereby eliciting potent anti-cancer immunity. TrojanDC has the potential to overcome challenges with current immunotherapies by reinstating cancer immunogenicity. The Women TechEU grant will allow defining a clear roadmap for the IND-enabling studies and FIH clinical trials and creating a comprehensive business plan required to raise Series A funding in Q4 2023.
The Impact: With strong proof-of-concept data already obtained, an exceptional team of high-performing scientists and a strong syndicate of seasoned VCs, Asgard Therapeutics is in a unique position to develop first-in-class cancer immunotherapy based in in-vivo reprogramming.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology immunotherapy
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.3.2 - European innovation ecosystems
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-CSA - HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-EIE-2022-SCALEUP-02
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
223 81 Lund
Sweden
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.