Immunocore Named one of Fierce 15 Leading Biotechs of 2013

Immunocore Ltd, the Oxford-based biotechnology company developing novel biological drugs to treat cancer and viral disease, has been named by FierceBiotech as one of 2013’s Fierce 15 biotechs, designating it as one of the most promising private biotechnology companies in the industry. This is FierceBiotech’s eleventh annual Fierce 15 selection.

“Immunocore offers an interesting early-stage approach to rallying the immune system against cancer,” said FierceBiotech Executive Editor Ryan McBride. “Its T-cell receptor technology has taken many years to invent from scratch, and the hard work has begun to pay dividends with two recent pharma partnership deals.”

The company’s world-leading platform of bi-specific biological drugs, called ImmTACs (Immune mobilising mTCR Against Cancer), exploit the power of T Cell Receptors (TCRs) to recognise intracellular changes that occur during cancer or viral infection. This unique recognition ability of TCRs sets them apart from traditional antibody-based therapies that can only recognise changes on the surface of cells, and provides, for the first time, the ability to develop extremely potent targeted therapies for cancers that are poorly served. A particular feature is that the ImmTACs can be directed to target and destroy only the cancerous cells, avoiding damage to healthy cells.

The most advanced ImmTAC drug, IMCgp100 for the treatment of melanoma, is in Phase I/II clinical trials in the UK and USA. 

This summer, Immunocore announced two major partnership agreements with Genentech, a member of Roche Group, and GlaxoSmithKline to discover, develop and commercialise ImmTAC therapies against multiple targets.

James Noble, Chief Executive Officer of Immunocore, commented: “We are delighted to receive this prestigious award from FierceBiotech and be ranked among the top private biotech firms globally. This award recognizes 14 years of work to develop our technology and create a robust and reproducible platform, which has been validated through our two significant partnership deals, enabling our ImmTACs to be deployed as the basis of breakthrough treatments for cancers where there is a large unmet medical need.”

The Fierce 15 celebrates the spirit of being “fierce” — championing innovation and creativity, even in the face of intense competition.