Powering the Immune System to Transform Lives
Science and Technology
What if we could reignite the immune system, leveraging its power to restore health?
Our immune system is the body's front-line defense, designed to recognize and destroy threats to our health. But even this powerful system can be bypassed. Cancer cells and viruses are two prime examples; they have developed intricate mechanisms to evade the immune system, which can lead to life-threatening diseases.
Our Platforms
We are developing immunotherapies that we believe can become world-class medicines to harness the power of the immune system, providing the tools the body needs to help fight a disease “from the inside.”
Along with progressing our clinical-stage candidates, our research and development teams work tirelessly to expand our pipeline of potential treatments both for difficult-to-treat infectious diseases and cancers with the greatest unmet medical need.
We do this by bringing together our two cutting-edge technology platforms (our antibody and T-cell engager discovery and engineering platform, and the PRO-XTEN® masking platform) with a world-class team of experts with a proven track record in delivering life-saving medicines to patients. Building on our successes, Vir Biotechnology continues to make significant strides in developing treatments that have the potential to redefine standards of care in infectious diseases and oncology.
Antibody and T-cell engager discovery and engineering platform
We have built a powerful discovery and engineering platform that enables rapid generation of new medicines with real treatment potential for people living with serious diseases. Using our proprietary discovery techniques and protein engineering methods, we identify rare antibodies – and generate antibody fragments that establish the basis for our T-cell engagers. We leverage our scientific expertise and cutting-edge artificial intelligence engine dAIsY™ (data AI structure and antibodY) to design and optimize our drug candidates, modulating interactions with the immune system and enhancing key features that help us to create better drugs, faster.
PRO-XTEN® masking platform
We believe that the PRO-XTEN® masking platform has the potential to transform cancer immunotherapy. This innovative technology works by “hiding” or “masking” highly potent drugs to prevent potential toxicity outside of their intended site of action. In oncology, this means anti-cancer agents, such as T-cell engagers, become active only when entering the tumor microenvironment helping target cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue and decreasing potential side effects of the treatment. Masking also protects the medicines from being cleared too fast from our body. This enables them to stay in the bloodstream longer, potentially resulting in more convenient dosing regimens for patients and clinicians. Remarkably, this PRO-XTEN® masking platform is a universal platform – meaning that it can be used with different molecules without the need to tailor it every single time.
Vir Biotechnology has exclusive rights to the PRO-XTEN® masking platform for oncology and infectious disease. PRO-XTEN® is a trademark of Amunix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Sanofi company.