Singapore's ImmunoScape announces MoU for clinical trial with US-based cancer centre

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Singapore-based startup ImmunoScape, an A*STAR spin-out backed by Amgen Ventures and EDBI that is developing next-generation TCR-based cancer immunotherapies, has announced the execution of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a premier NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the United States (US), renowned globally for its pioneering history in cellular immunotherapy.

This partnership will fast-track ImmunoScape's “Seed and Boost” platform into the clinic. Concurrently, the company has announced a strategic investment from Leonardo DiCaprio.

Under the terms of the MoU, ImmunoScape will partner with the cancer centre to launch an investigator-initiated clinical trial targeting Wilms Tumor 1 (WT1) positive solid tumours. The trial will focus on four difficult-to-treat indications: ovarian, mesothelioma, and other high-unmet need solid tumors such as pancreatic and colorectal cancers. The study is scheduled to dose its first patients by September 2026.

This programme leverages ImmunoScape’s differentiated “Seed and Boost” strategy to solve the persistence and exhaustion challenges common in traditional cell therapies:

• The Seed: Autologous T-cells engineered with a high-affinity TCR targeting the intracellular antigen WT1.
• The Boost: A clinical stage fusion protein (Immuno-STAT™ technology) that selectively expands and activates the WT-1 targeting T-cells in the patient, mimicking the natural immune synapse while leaving all other T-cells untouched.