Prokarium Expands R&D Capabilities with London Biofoundry to Deepen Microbial Immunotherapy Pipeline

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Prokarium, a biopharmaceutical company pioneering the oncology field of microbial immunotherapy, has entered into an agreement, through Imperial Projects, to work with independent researchers from Imperial College London to develop Prokarium’s next-generation therapeutic candidates, engineered to deliver payloads within the tumor microenvironment.

“Prokarium is designing the perfect bacteria to be the next cancer immunotherapy, and we believe leveraging Salmonella’s unique biology will allow us to combine a powerful innate approach with a tailored adaptive response,” said Kristen Albright, PharmD, Chief Executive Officer of Prokarium. “This agreement will significantly expand our R&D capabilities and will further deepen our immunotherapy pipeline.”

This new multi-year agreement builds on work between Prokarium and London Biofoundry that was initiated in 2020 and will further expand Prokarium’s operations. The team from Imperial’s and SynbiCITE’s London Biofoundry specializes in the design, engineering and functional characterisation of synthetic DNA and organisms.

“Prokarium has uniquely positioned their Salmonella platform as an innovative immunotherapy approach for the treatment of solid tumors, and we are excited to support their efforts in pioneering the cancer treatment paradigm shift from synthetic chemistry to synthetic biology,” said Marko Storch, PhD, Head of Synthetic Biology and Automation. “At the London Biofoundry, we developed a cutting-edge SynBio stack and the expertise to collaborate with researchers and biotechs to advance their R&D. We are thrilled to leverage our leading research capabilities to support the development of Prokarium’s new class of medicines in oncology.”

About the London Biofoundry

The London Biofoundry provides a suite of state-of-the-art robotic equipment and expertise supporting automated end-to-end design, construction, and validation of large gene constructs and biological systems. For more information visit www.londonbiofoundry.org

About Imperial College London

Imperial College London is one of the world's leading universities. The College's 20,000 students and 8,000 staff are working to solve the biggest challenges in science, medicine, engineering and business. Reuters named the College as the UK's most innovative university because of its exceptional entrepreneurial culture and ties to industry. For more information visit http://www.imperial.ac.uk/

About Prokarium

Prokarium is a biopharmaceutical company pioneering the field of microbial immunotherapy. Our pipeline is designed to unlock the next level of immuno-oncology by building on the most recent advances in cancer immunology. Prokarium’s lead program is focused on transforming the treatment paradigm in bladder cancer by orchestrating immune-driven, long-lasting antitumor effects. Prokarium is based in London, UK. For further information, visit https://www.prokarium.com.