UTHealth Houston-developed cancer therapy platform takes major step toward clinical translation
CrossBridge Bio, a biotechnology company developing next-generation antibody-drug conjugates based on discoveries by researchers at UTHealth Houston, is taking a major step toward clinical translation after being acquired by Eli Lilly.
The dual-payload antibody-drug conjugate technology was originally created by the collaborative effort of two faculty laboratories at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston: Kyoji Tsuchikama, PhD, associate professor in the Texas Therapeutics Institute at The Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases, and Zhiqiang An, PhD, director of the Texas Therapeutics Institute, professor of molecular medicine, and the Robert A. Welch Distinguished University Chair in Chemistry at McGovern Medical School, as well as the vice president of drug discovery at UTHealth Houston.
“What began as a fundamental scientific breakthrough now has the potential to transform cancer treatment and, over time, influence therapies for other diseases. It also underscores the power of partnerships between academic innovators and industry leaders to accelerate discoveries from the laboratory to patients worldwide,” said Melina R. Kibbe, MD, president of UTHealth Houston and the Alkek-Williams Distinguished Chair.
The acquisition underscores UTHealth Houston’s research enterprise and its role in accelerating breakthrough cancer therapeutics from concept to clinic.
Read more on UTHealth Houston News page by Jeannette Sanchez.