immatics’ R&D focuses on the discovery and development of new drugs for active immunotherapy of cancer.

The development process of new products at immatics proves to be very fast compared to typical development cycles in the pharmaceutical industry. immatics can develop a product candidate – from the collection of first tumor samples to the delivery of a multi-peptide drug into the clinic – within 24 months or less.

The Drug Discovery and Development process at immatics is focused, effective and fast:

(1) TUMAP Identification. Using our proprietary technologies our biochemists and mass spectrometry experts identify tumor-associated peptides (TUMAPs) from primary tumor tissues excised from cancer patients and supplied by the clinical collaboration network of immatics. Sourcing our primary tissue from cancer patients rather than immortalized cell lines ensures that TUMAPs used in further development are more typical of the in vivo situation. Typically, immatics identifies up to several hundred different HLA-binding peptides from one small tumor sample. To date, this volume of output remains unchallenged by any other analytical setup.

(2) TUMAP Selection. HLA-binding peptides derived from highly over-expressed tumor-associated genes and from genes with a crucial function for the tumor cell are selected by our molecular biologists and bioinformatics people for further validation.

(3) TUMAP Validation. Our immunologists further validate selected TUMAPs by their ability to prime cytotoxic T cells in vitro. In this way, we are able to confirm the potency of immatics’ TUMAPs to turn human precursor T cells into activated T cells with the goal to target tumors in the clinical setting.

(4) Pharmaceutical Development (PD) & GMP Manufacturing. Once the relevant TUMAPs have been identified the next stage is to develop a stable and easy-to-handle formulation typically containing 8 to 12 different TUMAPs for administration in one single injection. Each individual TUMAP as well as the cocktail as a whole, has to be characterized physically, chemically, and microbiologically. Our chemists also develop manufacturing and analytical procedures that are subsequently used by the external GMP manufacturers.

(5) Clinical Development. immatics maintains the operational and scientific expertise within the company. Core competencies are held in our clinical development team. Much of the operation of clinical trials is being outsourced to internationally operating, well-known CROs. Immunomonitoring, that is the ex vivo detection of activated T cells in vaccinated patients to determine immunological efficacy during clinical development, is maintained in-house.

(6) Regulatory Affairs. Although our products are still in the early stages of development, we pride ourselves in the serious and comprehensive approach we take to the regulatory process. We find that the drug development process needs continuous input of regulatory guidance at all stages with focus on the manufacturing process and the clinical development strategy. We have substantial regulatory talent within our own management team and the supervisory board. Also, we maintain regular contact with regulatory authorities in order to maximally improve and focus our interaction with them.