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Contact:   Samantha (Sam) Cobb, CEO
Website:   www.currusbio.com

Currus Biologics is a start-up company from the Peter Macallum Cancer Institute, Melbourne that is developing a platform technology to improve the efficacy of CAR- T cell therapies in solid tumour cancers.  In contrast to the striking successes achieved with CAR-T cells in the treatment of patients with haematological malignancies, no equivalent successes have been demonstrated in patients with solid tumours, which collectively account for ~90% of cancer- related deaths. The Currus technology uses a bi-specific antibody, which recognises and simultaneously binds markers on CAR-T cells and professional antigen presenting cells (APCs), enabling their interaction.  The Bispecific Engagers of Antigen Presenting Cells and T cells (BEATs) enables the CAR-T cells to engage with APC’s in the lymph nodes, away from the suppressive tumour microenvironment. With the BEAT engaging the professional antigen presenting cells and the CAR-T cell therapy simultaneously, the CAR-T cells proliferate and expand in a supportive natural environment. The CAR-T cells gain the appropriate licensing and then egress from lymphoid tissues to effect the potent targeting of solid tumours.