AbeXXa Biologics – Re-Imagining Cancer Immunotherapy for the Many
A single phone call to a member of Boehringer Ingelheim’s Venture Fund at the beginning of 2016 proved to be a defining moment for AbeXXa Biologics. This was the start of a rapidly developing relationship that has, in addition to Venture Fund investment, resulted in a research collaboration and the award of Boehringer Ingelheim’s Innovation Prize – all in the space of a year. Named as one of the ’40 Best University Startups’1 in 2017, AbeXXa Biologics is a faculty startup from the University of Texas at Arlington, and a client of TechFW, a nonprofit technology incubator in Fort Worth, Texas, that mentors and coaches entrepreneurs as they develop and launch technology-based products. Applying scientific curiosity to address a challenging research question, this dynamic company is breaking new ground in a field of research that has the potential for developing a ‘menu’ of antibody-based therapies that could benefit much larger numbers of patients.
A Menu-Based Approach to Treatment
What makes AbeXXa’s research particularly exciting is that it’s re-imagining cancer immunotherapy to provide effective treatment for a majority of patients by providing multiple combination options, tailored to each patient’s tumour. Dr. Jon Weidanz, Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of AbeXXa, is a biology professor and Associate Vice-President of Research at the University of Texas at Arlington. He has worked in the immuno-oncology field for more than 25 years exploring how to utilize the immune system to attack cancer cells. “Our idea was to go back and re-interrogate the immune system and explore which molecules are critical at regulating immune responses.” |
The Cancer Immunotherapy Challenge
A major challenge in cancer immunotherapy is the need to develop agents that are consistently effective in a majority of patients and cancer types. While impressive results have been observed in some patients treated with cancer immunotherapies, many immunotherapy treatments have demonstrated efficacy in only a select group of cancers and usually in a minority of patients with those cancers. |

A Meeting of Minds
Relationships matter. And Weidanz wanted to work with a partner he could trust in the journey to translate the scientific hypotheses into practice. He reconnected with Dr. Knut Elbers, Senior Scientific Advisor Innovation Beyond Borders, whom he first met at a conference 10 years previously. “It’s about the network. You have a group of people you feel confident reaching out to who have been supportive over the years and through our long-standing relationship and alignment in goals, AbeXXa was the fit that Boehringer Ingelheim was looking for” says Weidanz.

Dr. Paul Adam, Head of Cancer Immunology Target Discovery, recognizes the partnership ‘sweet spot’ with AbeXXa. “We saw very early on that AbeXXa was a company we could do great science with. We have a long-term commitment to oncology, and this opportunity to discover novel therapeutic antibodies supports our innovation strategy of exploring new target spaces. Our relationship with AbeXXa plays to each company’s strengths and is a great example of how we can use a combination of investment and partnership tools to support early science innovation.”
Weidanz describes the partnership as ‘a meeting of minds’. “One of the great things that AbeXXa has with Boehringer Ingelheim is a unique trust which starts with the leadership. We see a lot of support in trying to make the project work and a lot of intellectual input and exchange. There’s an academic feel to the relationship in terms of being inquisitive, curious and creative, but with a collegial approach to solving the problem – how do we defeat cancer?”
The initial investment from the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, which operates as a separate legal entity, was quickly followed by a collaborative research agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim and the award of the Company’s Innovation Prize at the end of 2016. The impact of this combination of events has enabled AbeXXa to accelerate its plans and grow its team of scientists not only in Texas but also in Boston, where AbeXXa now has a presence at LabCentral’s shared laboratory space in Cambridge, MA – the prize for winning the Innovation competition.

References
- National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer https://ncet2.org/
More Related Content
-
DOWNLOAD PDF (157.54 KB)
-
Cancer Immunology
-
Cancer Immunology
Dr. Jonathon Sedgwick, Head of Cancer Immunology and Immune Modulation at Boehringer Ingelheim, talks about how BI is turning up the heat on cancer
-
Cancer Immunology
-
Cancer Immunology
-
Partnering Interests