GE Healthcare and Indi Molecular to collaborate on diagnostic tool for clinical management of immunotherapy patients

GE Healthcare and Indi Molecular, Inc, a  California-based biotechnology company, have announced plans to develop immune cell-targeted Positron-Emission Tomography (PET) tracer candidates, based on Indi Molecular’s proprietary Protein Catalyzed Capture (PCC) technology. These tracer candidates, if successful, could help identify molecular markers of cytotoxic T-cells, and potentially help in the selection and monitoring of immunotherapy patients.

Today, despite there being over 2,400 immunotherapy clinical trials in progress, it is anticipated that very few therapies will eventually be available for patients. The potential ability of PET tracers to give a better understanding of a patient’s immune cell profile may provide an early indication of whether the patient is likely to respond. This could enhance clinical trial outcomes by improving the chances of immunotherapies successfully reaching the market.

“This collaboration is a credit to the strength of both our respective Research & Development teams,” said Albert A. Luderer, Ph.D., Indi Molecular CEO and co-founder. “We believe that our protein catalysed capture technology platform is ideally suited to deliver predictable, small molecule-like biological behaviour that possesses unique, ultra-high target affinity and specificity required for targets such as immune cells.” 

GE Healthcare is a leading medtech and diagnostics innovator supporting an ecosystem striving for precision health. Within precision diagnostics, the company is building a portfolio of PET tracers targeting biomarkers for immunotherapies. 

“Our developed PET tracers are already being used globally to support clinical trials of therapeutics,” said Julia Casey, General Manager of Molecular Imaging at GE Healthcare. “With Indi Molecular as one of our collaborators we can now begin to develop novel PET tracers for a variety of biomarkers of interest in the immuno-oncology space. These tracers could potentially play a critical role in supporting the development of immunotherapies, treatments that have shown great promise in how we manage oncology patients today.”  

About GE Healthcare: 

GE Healthcare is the $19 billion healthcare business of GE (NYSE: GE).  As a leading provider of medical imaging, monitoring, biomanufacturing, and cell and gene therapy technologies, GE Healthcare enables precision health in diagnostics, therapeutics and monitoring through intelligent devices, data analytics, applications and services.  With over 100 years of experience in the healthcare industry and more than 50,000 employees globally, the company helps improve outcomes more efficiently for patients, healthcare providers, researchers and life sciences companies around the world.  Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and The Pulse for latest news, or visit our website www.gehealthcare.com for more information. 

About Indi Molecular:

Indi Molecular is an emerging life sciences company that is developing a synthetic class of diagnostic and therapeutic agents with antibody-like properties: protein-catalyzed capture agents. The molecule’s small size makes PCCs a synthetic equivalent of a monoclonal antibody but with biophysical properties similar to a small molecule drug. PCCs offer the promise of superior performance, stability, lower cost and faster creation compared to monoclonal antibodies, the current standard for many therapeutic and molecular imaging applications.

The company launched in 2013 with a $1.8 million seed round, followed by an $11.5 million Series A in 2017. For more information visit www.IndiMolecular.com

Forward-looking statements are based upon current plans, estimates and expectations that are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions.  Forward-looking statements are often characterized by words like “may,” “expect,” “could,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “plan,” “can,” “should,” “would,” “might,” or other similar words or phrases.  Should one or more of these associated risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may vary materially from those indicated or anticipated by such forward-looking statements.  The inclusion of such statements in this press release should not be regarded as a representation that such plans, estimates, or expectations will be achieved.  Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such plans, estimates, or expectations include, among others, that events could cause the collaboration to end; a PET tracer candidate could fail to gain regulatory approval or meet its primary study endpoint; changes in the general economic and/or industry specific conditions could delay or terminate the collaboration; actions by third parties, including government agencies and competitors, could delay or stop development; and other risk factors as detailed from time to time in GE’s respective reports filed with the SEC, including GE’s annual reports on Form 10-K, periodic quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, periodic current reports on Form 8-K and other documents filed with the SEC.  The foregoing list is not exclusive.  Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this communication.  GE undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or development, or otherwise, except as required by law.  Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement.