‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, June 27, 2023
PamGene International B.V., an in-vitro diagnostics and biomarker services company developing a blood-based cancer immunotherapy guidance test called IOpener®, is one of the 51 winners chosen by the European Innovation Council’s (EIC) Accelerator program for Europe’s high-potential companies, successfully making it through the extremely competitive March 2023 cut-off.
Immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment, but its high costs, relatively low efficacy rates, and side effects is an important challenge to improve its widespread use. Predicting immunotherapy response is critical for fully realizing its potential in treating early-stage tumours and enhancing immunotherapy treatment regimens. PamGene’s IOpener® is a ground-breaking CE-IVD registered diagnostics testing platform for immunotherapy response prediction. Made possible by PamGene’s proprietary microarray-based kinase activity profiling of host immune cells, it can predict a patient’s response, before immunotherapy is started, from a simple blood draw. The IOpener® test platform aims to revolutionize the precision-medicine sector, enabling the widespread use of immunotherapy at any cancer stage.
John Groten, managing director of PamGene, said, “Qualifying for this highly competitive funding program is a great recognition of our team and our CE-IVD registered IOpener®-melanoma and IOpener®-NSCLC (non-small cell lung cancer) immunotherapy guidance tests. The award’s blended finance of grant and equity allows us to carry out clinical utility studies in key countries in Europe and accelerate new partnerships to start our commercialization activities.”
About EIC Accelerator
The European Innovation Council (EIC) is Europe’s flagship innovation programme to identify, develop and scale up breakthrough technologies and to support game-changing innovations. The EIC Accelerator offers SMEs grants combined with equity investments through the EIC Fund. In addition to financial support, all projects benefit from a range of business acceleration services that provide access to leading expertise, corporations, investors, and ecosystem players.
PamGene has successfully applied for the EIC Accelerator biomarker Challenge funding and is one of the 51 companies in 17 countries selected to receive EIC funding, following the second 2023 EIC Accelerator cut-off in March. The companies were selected from a total 551 proposals in a highly competitive process, which culminated in interviews with juries of experienced investors and entrepreneurs.
About IOpener® – A liquid biopsy immunotherapy guidance test
The IOpener® is a blood-based diagnostic test that supports immunotherapy guidance for melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. The test measures the kinase activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated from a single tube of blood from a patient to determine the likelihood of responding to immunotherapy. The test is based on ample experience with the technology for measuring and interpreting kinase activity to support academic and clinical research. The IOpener®-NSCLC and the IOpener®-melanoma are CE-IVD registered devices that are developed and manufactured in PamGene’s ISO 13485:2016 certified facility.
About PamGene
PamGene International B.V. has recently intensified its efforts to develop and commercialize a blood-based immunotherapy guidance test, the IOpener®, to improve patient outcomes. The company’s kinase-activity profiling technology and proprietary software algorithms support clinicians in their treatment decisions using the IOpener® assay. PamGene’s robust and unique peptide microarray technology for multiplex kinase-activity profiling is also used to provide dedicated assay services for patient stratification for clinical trials, biomarker discovery, and gaining mechanistic insights needed to understand human diseases. PamGene is headquartered in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands.
For more information, please contact Rinie van Beuningen, Vice President Business Development – iopener@pamgene.com – +31 (0) 73 615 80 80 – www.pamgene.com.
IOpener® is a registered trademark in the U.S. and European community.