SINGAPORE–PairX Bio (“PairX”), a next generation biotechnology startup focusing on cutting-edge cancer immunotherapies has spunout of Duke NUS, its Singapore medical school.

Cancer immunotherapies have already had a transformative impact for some patients, by enhancing the ability of the body’s immune system to attack cancer cells. While this company is located in Singapore, the Research Triangle has a growing cluster of gene-therapy startups.

Cancer cells express antigens on their surfaces, which can be recognized by immune cells (T cells) and potentiate cancer cell killing. However, major challenges in the field include identifying the antigens being expressed by cancer cells and potentiating T cells to recognize and attack the cancer cells.

PairX’s unique approaches to identifying these shared antigen and T cell pairs have already been demonstrated and hold promise for solving major unmet needs.

PairX discovers and develops innovative cancer immunotherapies targeting shared tumour-associated antigens derived from aberrantly spliced proteins. The company leverages its differentiated platform built upon deep understanding of mRNA splicing biology, proprietary antigen and T cell validation methods, and patient derived tumours and data across multiple cancer types.

The founding team and investors bring demonstrated track records in cancer drug discovery and biotech company-building towards significant value-creating milestones.

PairX has exclusively licensed the intellectual property (IP) from Duke’s medical school in Singapore, and continues to leverage the school’s world-class research capabilities, which are further enhanced by its Academic Medicine partnership with SingHealth, Singapore’s largest healthcare group.

PairX was incubated by Esco Ventures, and the founding investors of the company are Esco Ventures and Avendesora, an investment company.

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