NANOBIOTIX will begin a pre-clinical collaboration with Providence Cancer Institute to study Nanobiotix’s lead product, NBTXR3, a first-in-class nanoparticle designed for direct injection into cancerous tumors and activation by radiotherapy.

The collaboration with Providence Cancer Institute aims to provide essential preclinical data on the ability of NBTXR3 activated by radiotherapy to induce an antitumoral immune response. 

Marka R. Crittenden, M.D., Ph.D., radiation oncologist and director of Translational Radiation Research at the Robert W. Franz Cancer Center will lead the program. “Promising pre-clinical data suggests that nanoparticles combined with radiotherapy enhance tumor-specific immune responses and lead to an abscopal response, priming a patient’s immune system to attack cancer cells outside of the radiotherapy target area,” she said. “Furthermore, we are absolutely delighted to partner with Nanobiotix to advance our research on this phenomenon and the role NBTXR3 can play in immuno-oncology.”

The collaboration will take place over the course of one year, and will evaluate the use of NBTXR3 activated by radiotherapy in pancreatic cancer models (in vitro and in vivo). The results of this joint program will enable the potential to explore future use of NBTXR3 in immuno-oncology as well as its potential to control metastatic disease.

Additionally, NANOBIOTIX has received the approval of its Investigational New Drug (IND) and will launch its first clinical trial combining NBTXR3 with immune checkpoint inhibitors in the U.S. with a multi-arm trial targeting a sub-population of advanced lung cancer patients and head and neck cancer patients.