Elpis Biopharmaceuticals, a US-based clinical-stage cell therapy company developing bispecific armoured CAR-T therapies for solid tumours, announced on Sunday the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS).

The partnership aims to support collaborative cell therapy research and clinical trials for the treatment of a variety of cancers, including colorectal, pancreatic and ovarian cancers. CAR-T cell therapy is a form of immunotherapy that is currently only approved for use to treat blood cancers, such as certain types of lymphomas and multiple myeloma.

As part of the agreement, Elpis says that it will contribute clinically validated technologies for cancer treatment, including multi-mechanism armour, bispecific targeting antibodies, cytokine cocktails and a rapid mRNA display discovery engine, to drive the development of next-generation cell therapies.

Plans are also underway for Elpis to establish a laboratory space at NCCS and co-share its equipment to enable more integrated and efficient collaboration. NCCS will contribute its expertise in clinical research and access to clinical trial infrastructure to support the evaluation of novel cell therapy candidates.

The collaboration will support the development of bispecific armoured CAR-T cell therapies for solid tumours, while Elpis's mRNA display technology will support NCCS in the rapid discovery of human antibodies to novel targets and enable novel modalities to cell therapy and beyond.