genOway announces the consolidation of a precompetitive consortium to develop and validate humanized immune checkpoint mouse models

Lyon (France), June 4, 2019 — genOway, the biotechnology company leader in conceiving and developing genetically engineered preclinical research models, announces the consolidation of a precompetitive consortium with key industrial partners (including Big pharma, biotechnology companies and major contract research organizations) to validate a catalog of immunocompetent mouse models featuring humanized immune checkpoints (ICPs) and co-stimulatory molecules for profiling agents targeting the immune system.

“The breakthrough of immune-checkpoint blockades has unleashed new hope and success for cancer therapy. The lack of faithful preclinical models recapitulating the complexity of the etiology and the development of tumors, the interaction with the stroma and the micro-environment and the proper priming of the immune system is still a burden. We are very excited to collaborate with company leaders in immuno-oncology and immunotherapy to design and evaluate new generation preclinical models with better translatability to humans—the quality of these predictive models is key to interrogate and predict anti-tumor immune response,” says Kader Thiam, Vice President of Transgenic Technologies at genOway.

“The ICP catalog complements the recently acquired catalog of mice featuring Human Immune System (HIS), and gives genOway a broad and versatile set of tools to help decipher the mechanism of action as well as the efficacy and the safety of drugs targeting the immune system,” says Alexandre Fraichard, founder and Chief Executive Officer of genOway. genOway has reached an important strategic milestone by generating the first set of commercially available ICP models. This catalog features both classical and innovative targets, including single (e.g., PD-1, CTLA-4, LAG-3, CD137, OX40, VISTA) and double (e.g., PD-1/CTLA-4, PD-1/LAG3, PD-1/TIM3) humanized models.

About genOway

genOway (Euronext Growth^®: ALGEN; ISIN: FR0004053510) is a biotechnology society which aims to conceive and develop high-value-added molecular, cellular and animal research models for biopharmaceutical, chemical, agrochemical and food industries, as well as academic research. With highly qualified scientific personnel, genOway operates in 28 countries in Europe, Asia and North America, and collaborates with more than 260 research institutes and 80 biopharmaceutical companies. genOway is a market leader in terms of both size and customer portfolios. The company’s development is based on a broad and exclusive technology platform, as well as on strong intellectual property rights, combining patents and licensing agreements. Taking advantage of the global trend toward outsourcing the production of genetically modified research models, genOway has signed many commercial contracts with pharmaceutical industry leaders, including BMS, Janssen, Novartis, and Pfizer, and prestigious academic research centers, including King’s College London and the University of Manchester, in the UK; Harvard, Caltech and the National Institutes of Health in the US; the Pasteur Institute in France; and the German National Genome Research Network and the Max Planck Institute in Germany.

Contacts

Fabiane Sônego | +33 (0)4 37 65 95 96 | sonego(at)genoway.com

The information presented in this document may contain forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties. The actual achievements of the Company may be substantially different from those anticipated in this document because of the risk factors related to the company.