30 Fastest Growing Companies in Asia 2019 30 Fastest Growing Companies in Asia 2019 | Page 26

Andrew Khoo, CEO & Co-founder
TESSA THERAPEUTICS: Cure Cancer and Save Lives with
Innovative and Widely Accessible Immunotherapies
T
essa’s story started over 30
years ago, when Dr. Malcolm
Brenner, our co-founder,
and his team at Baylor College of
Medicine embarked on a journey to
better understand and harness the
body’s natural anti-viral immune
response as a therapy for cancer
treatment. Their research led to the
development of our core platform
technology, which uses a type
of immune cell known as Virus-
Specific T cells (VSTs). Early VST
studies have shown early efficacy
and a strong safety profile in the
treatment of cancer.
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Leveraging on these promising
data, Tessa initiated a Phase II
DECEMBER 2019
clinical trial for TT10, a VST therapy
targeting nasopharyngeal cancer
(NPC), at National Cancer Centre
Singapore (NCCS), which produced
the best-published 2-year survival
data in patients with advanced NPC.
The trial results set the stage for a
Phase III trial – the world’s largest
T cell therapy trial for any cancer
indication with 330 patients across
30 hospitals in 5 countries.
Today, Tessa is building a portfolio
of next-generation therapies
targeting a wide range of cancer
indications, by combining VSTs
with other immuno-oncology
approaches. We are proud to be
spearheading innovation in the field
of cancer immunotherapy and are
committed to making a difference in
the lives of more cancer patients.
“Tessa has a unique focus on
making use of viruses as a driver for
therapeutic treatments of cancer,
and that’s very important because
T cells, in particular, have primarily
emerged to control virus infections.”
Dr. Malcolm Brenner, Scientific
Co-founder of Tessa Therapeutics.
Platform Technology
Our core Virus-Specific T cells
platform shows promising
efficacy and proven safety
in multiple solid tumor and
hematologic neoplasms.