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 €61 M (31,3 M€ in equity and 30 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

Dr. Joel Plumas (PhD), Cofounder & Chief Scientific Officer

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

Dr. Beatrice Devos (MD, PhD), Chief 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) targeting widely expressed shared tumor antigens. Phase I/II clinical presented at ESMO-IO in Dec. 2024 were promising, and a randomized phase IIb is planned for early 2026.
• PDC*neo: our next candidate for colorectal cancer as monotherapy, targeting patient-specific neoantigens, with a Phase Ib trial anticipated in 2026.  

IP Position

PDC*line Pharma 's Intellectual Property rests on four 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 for biological safety making it the main assets and protection for the company as it is impossible to replicate.
• A family of international patents (co-invented by Joel PLUMAS, licensed from EFS) protects the therapeutic use of any Plasmacytoid DC lines (WO 2009/138489). A patent filed in 2018 protects genetic optimizations of PDC*line. Three more patents were filed in 2023.
• Strong expertise and a large set of data resulting from 20+ years of preclinical research, manufacturing process, Quality Control and immuno-monitoring in vitro assays developments.
• Orphan Drug Designation strategy in USA

Achievements over the last 4 years

• November 2021: closing of a €17.5M B2-Round of financing led by the multi-billion Asian VC, Korea Investment Partners (B1-Round of €20M was closed in December 2019, also led by KIP).
• December 2022: 90% success rate for the release of the 11 clinical batches of PDC*lung01 manufactured for the Phase I/II trial.
• September, December 2022 and February 2023: Presentation of first immunological and clinical results of the first three cohorts of patients treated with PDC*lung (with or without an anti-PD-1) at three prestigious conferences in Medical Oncology (ESMO, ESMO-IO and CIMT).
• February and June 2023: filing of 3 new patents.
• June 2023: presentation of PDC*lung research at the International Session of the Korean Cancer Society and winning the International Abstract Award.
• June 2023: relocation of the headquarter in a brand-new facility in Liège (Belgium) including a 330m2 GMP manufacturing unit (clean rooms).
• October 2023: completion of patient enrolment (inclusion of the last patient in the last cohort).
• January 2024: €8.1M grant from the Walloon region to develop PDC*neo for colorectal cancer.
• April 2024: presentation of promising interim results of PDC-LUNG-101 at the AACR conference.
• Decembre 2204: presentation of promising primary results of PDC-LUNG-101 at the ESMO IO conference.