France: Pioneering the next generation of cancer immunotherapies

Immunotherapy is increasingly being offered as a cancer treatment option, showing success in preventing tumours from spreading and improving long-term survival rates in patients. Researchers continue to explore how our immune system can be activated by antibodies to attack cancer cells, but a critical challenge persists: 2D cell cultures fail to replicate the complexity of real tumours, leading to unreliable preclinical test outcomes.

To address this, French and Swiss companies, Brenus Pharma and InSphero, combined their respective expertise in immunotherapy and 3D cell culture modelling through the Eureka project ALLOGENIX. Together, they developed an advanced 3D model that mimics a tumour and its microenvironment. Using this model, the project team assessed the efficacy of an innovative colorectal cancer in vivo immunotherapy. The results are promising, and the team also found the model significantly improved the reliability of preclinical testing.

The end of this project opens new opportunities. This collaboration has laid the foundation for faster, smarter development across Brenus’ pipeline. By bringing clarity to the complexity of the tumour microenvironment, the ALLOGENIX project has already delivered promising preclinical results, paving the way for more predictive and patient-relevant immunotherapy solutions.

Léa Perles – Strategic Operations Lead at Brenus Pharma

Validating one immunotherapy is just the beginning for the project partners. Scaling up this achievement, Brenus Pharma and InSphero are now adapting and implementing the model for more oncology applications. The aim is to establish a standardised efficacy test that could serve as a regulatory reference for cancer therapy evaluation, clinical development and industrial production. The project results have so far been showcased at major scientific conferences.

Eureka and French innovation agency Bpifrance played a pivotal role in enabling the partnership, offering a structured collaborative framework and funding to reduce financial risk. The support facilitated smooth coordination, alignment of objectives and early recruitment of specialised employees.

The partners fondly recall one especially foggy meeting in Zurich overlooking its lake, a moment that became running joke within the team. The clear view that was lacking that day has now been gifted to immunotherapy researchers, thanks to the ALLOGENIX project.

The project delivered significant tangible outcomes: Brenus expanded its team from seven to 15 employees, is set to integrate the testing method into its workflow and strengthened its credibility with investors, pharmaceutical companies and within the European biotech ecosystem. The French company is now positioned as a pioneer in using advanced models to de-risk its approach and assess candidates’ efficacy with accuracy.

The cutting-edge 3D cell culture model developed within the ALLOGENIX project is accelerating the development of safer, more effective cancer immunotherapies. Whilst the colorectal cancer vaccine tested during the project already could have a life-changing impact, the potential for uncovering more and more effective immunotherapy treatment options, tested with the model, is immense.