PDC line Pharma 

Spin-off of French Blood Bank (EFS, Etablissement Français du Sang)

SAS founded in April 2014 in Grenoble, France

SA founded in June 2016 in Liège (Belgium)

Funding

The company has raised nearly €52 M (31,3 M€ in equity and 20,7 M€ of non-dilutive money).

In march 2019, PDC*line Pharma granted exclusive license in South Korea and exclusive option in other Asian countriesto LG Chem Life Sciences Company, for the development and commercialization of PDC*lungcancer vaccine for lung cancer. The total deal value is 108M€ (123M$) plus significant tieredroyalties on net sales in Asia.

In December 2019, PDC*line Pharma raises €20M in Series B financing round. Five new investors joined the round of financing: Korean Investment Partners, the leading multi-billion dollar South-Korean fund, two further South-Korean funds, Shinhan-Cognitive Start-up Fund and UTC 2019 BIOVENTUREFUND, as well as two Belgian funds, SRIW (The Regional Investment Company of Wallonia) and Sambrinvest (the investment fund of Charleroi).

In December 2021, PDC*line Pharma raises €17,5M€ in Series B2 financing round. This financing round, led by Korea Investment Partners, a leading multi-billion dollar South-Korean fund, also involved a syndicate of new South-Korean investors in life sciences: Alpha Holdings, Brain Asset Management and Hansongneotech Co. Ltd.

PDC*line Pharma won numerous awards, including the first prize of the French start-up competition “Tremplin Entreprises” in the biotech category in 2015, and the first prize of the MATWIN oncology projects competition in the start-up category awarded by international leaders from the pharmaceutical industry and academic research.

Management team

Eric Halioua (MS, MBA),  President & Chief Executive Officer

Laurent Levy (MS, MBA), Cofounder & Chief Operating Officer

Joel Plumas (PhD), Cofounder & Chief Scientific Officer

Claude Dedry (Pharm. D), Vice-President Pharmaceutical Operations & Quality

Channa Debruyne (MD), Medical Director

Products

• PDC*line is the only cell line of Dendritic Cells for therapeutic use. It is exposed in vitro to tumor antigens, irradiated and can be stored frozen for year. After thawing, it is injected to activate in vivo a potent cytotoxic anti-tumor CD8+ T-cell response. The product is classified as an ATMP (Advanced-Therapy Medicinal Product) by the EMA (European Medicines Agency).

It currently comes in the form of 3 candidates:

• PDC*mel: our first candidate for melanoma completed a first-in-human phase Ib trial in 2017, demonstrating the safety of the product, the absence of allogeneic rejection and its biological activity.
• PDC*lung: our leading candidate for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) targets widely expressed shared antigens (including cancer/testis antigens). A phase Ib/II trial evaluating its safety and biological activity, with and without anti-PD1, is currently being initiated.
• PDC*neo: is currently being developed at the preclinical stage.

IP Position

PDC*line Pharma 's Intellectual Property rests on three pillars:

• Proprietary PDC*line: PDC*line is unique and is the only cell line of human DCs for therapeutic use. A Master Cell Bank manufactured under GMP procedures has been fully characterized and validated in terms of biological safety.
• Two granted international patents families (co-invented by Joel PLUMAS, licensed from EFS) protecting PDC*line generation (WO 2004/061089) and the therapeutic use of any Plasmacytoid DC lines (WO 2009/138489). One patent filed in 2018 protecting genetic optimizations of PDC*line.
• Strong expertise and a large set of data accumulated over more than 15 years in the fields of preclinical data, manufacturing process, Quality Control and immuno-monitoring in vitro assays.

Achievements over the last 24 months

• January 2019: GMP accreditation by the Belgian Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products (FAMHP) for its Quality Control & Release Activities for PDC*lung.
• March 2019: Closing of a licensing deal in Asia with LG Chem (more than 123M$+ royalties).
• June 2019: authorization to launch an open-label, dose-escalation, phase I/II trial with the cancer vaccine candidate PDC*lung in non-small cell lung cancer in Belgium and France (with and without anti-PD-1).
• December 2019: closing of a 20M€ B1-Round of financing led by the multi-billion Asian VC KIP (Korea Investment Partners).
• February 2020: First PDC*lung administration (low dose) in a patient with non-small cell lung cancer.
• June 2020: strengthening of board of directors with an industry leader in the field of immuno-oncology (Mondher Mahjoubi) as chairman.
• September 2020: doses first patient with high dose in the cancer vaccine candidate (PDC*lung01)
• November 2020: authorization to launch the phase I/II trial with PDC*lung01 in Germany.
• December 2020: Conformity and release of the 6 clinical batches of PDC*lung manufactured in 2020 (100% success rate).
• February 2021: publication in Vaccines of an article describing the capabilities of "our Engineered PDC*line to Prime and Expand Multispecific Viral and Tumor Antigen-Specific T-Cells"
• November 2021: closing of a 17,5M€ B2-Round of financing led by KIP.