Technology
Bringing the power of cell therapy to solid cancers
Zelluna’s clinical-stage TCR-NK platform combines the precision of the T cell receptor with the killing power of natural killer cells, designed as an off-the-shelf scalable therapy for solid tumours.
Why cell therapy
From transformative outcomes in blood cancers to the challenge of solid tumours
Cell therapies can deliver deep, durable responses
Cell therapies have produced some of the longest-lasting responses seen in advanced cancers, including patients with few remaining treatment options.
Strong efficacy can accelerate development
When clinical benefit is compelling, cell therapies can follow accelerated regulatory pathways and reach patients with relatively small human datasets.
Most success has been in blood cancers
Approved cell therapies have mainly transformed haematological cancers, while solid tumours remain a major unmet challenge.
TCRs extend cell therapy into solid tumours
The first two approvals in solid cancers both use a T cell receptor (TCR) as the guidance system.
TCR-NK aims to combine precision with scalability
Zelluna is developing an off-the-shelf scalable TCR-NK platform designed to combine precise tumour recognition with the innate cancer-killing biology of NK cells.
Cell therapy in brief
Living drugs that find and kill cancer cells
Cell therapies are living drugs: human immune cells infused into the patient to eliminate cancer cells. The immune cells carry a guidance system that lets them recognise – and kill – the cancer.
Today, that guidance system is usually one of two receptors:
CAR
Chimeric antigen receptors recognise targets on the surface of the cancer cell.
TCR Zelluna’s choice
T cell receptors can see targets from inside the cancer cell – and they guide the first two approved therapies in solid cancers.
Despite the successes, two challenges remain
Solid cancers are tough to treat
Today’s therapies struggle to deliver long-term responses in solid tumours.
Scaling global access
Personalised cell therapies are hard to manufacture and deliver to large patient populations worldwide.
The TCR-NK platform
Two of the immune system’s most powerful elements, in one cell
Natural killer (NK) cell
- Highly potent cancer killers
- Manufactured at large scale from healthy donors
- Favourable safety profile
T cell receptor (TCR)
- Exquisite cancer-cell targeting
- Guides the NK cell to its target
- Clinically validated in solid cancers
TCR-NK
- NK-cell killing power, guided by a TCR
- Multiple ways to recognise and kill cancer
- Off-the-shelf, for patients on a global scale
Why it matters
A platform built for value creation
Game-changing platform
A world-leading cell therapy platform, building on clinical successes, that may bring transformative treatments to solid cancer patients globally.
Strong IP position
An unprecedented opportunity to capture the market of an entire therapeutic field.
In the clinic now
Lead programme ZI-MA4-1 is in the Phase 1 ZIMA-101 trial – a potential near-term value inflection point for the platform.
Accelerated approval
A potentially fast approval path, with relatively small human datasets creating value from early clinical phases.
Zelluna’s mission is to deliver transformative, potentially curative treatments for advanced solid cancers, safely, cost-efficiently and at global scale.