BIND Therapeutics forms Accurins development collaboration with Affilogic

Under the terms of the partnership, BIND will use Nanofitins as targeting ligand components for Accurins in immuno-oncology.

After the proof-of-concept stage, BIND expects to expand the partnership to develop Accurins that incorporate unique combinations of immuno-oncology targeting ligands and new classes of payloads such as oligonucleotides and molecularly targeted therapies.

BIND Therapeutics chief scientific officer Jonathan Yingling said: "Targeting ligand collaborations are an important part of our strategy to develop innovative medicines and this collaboration provides us with access to targeting ligands that are key modulators of anti-tumor immunity.

"The modular nature of our platform, including the ability to utilize targeting ligands that elicit a biological response and enhance disease tissue accumulation, will potentially allow us to develop Accurins that cause tumor cell death and/or modulate the tumor microenvironment as a way to maximize clinical benefit for patients."

Accurins are polymeric nanoparticles that encapsulate and control the release of therapeutic payloads with different physical and chemical properties.

The surface of Accurins can be functionalized with several biologically active ligands, potentially with various types of ligands on the same particle.

BIND’s collaboration with Affilogic is aimed at investigating the use of Nanofitins protein ligands that bind to key immune regulators.

Nanofitins are small affinity proteins that can be easily conjugated to other moieties by genetic fusion or standard chemistry.