Inceptor Bio doses first patient in cancer trial, raises $21M
By Barry Teater | This article originally appeared on NCBiotech's blog
Inceptor Bio, a cell therapy company based in Morrisville, has dosed the first patient in a clinical trial of its potential treatment for a type of kidney cancer.
To help fund the development of that therapy and others, the company has also closed a $21 million Series A2 financing, led by a syndicate of investors including Raleigh-based Kineticos Life Sciences.
Inceptor Bio’s lead therapy, known as IB-T101, is intended to treat patients with clear cell Renal Cell Carcinoma (ccRCC), the most common type of kidney cancer. Over 300,000 new cases of the cancer arise annually worldwide, and treatment options are limited.
"This is a major milestone for Inceptor Bio as we advance IB-T101 into the clinic," said Dr. Matthias Schroff, chief executive officer of Inceptor Bio. “With the support and confidence of our investors, we are focused on advancing our lead program with the goal of delivering a best-in-class therapy that has the potential to change the treatment paradigm for patients facing these challenging cancers."
Reprogramming T cells to target cancer
IB-T101 is an autologous CD70 CAR-T therapy, a treatment that modifies a patient’s T cells to target a protein – CD70 – found on cancer cells but not on normal cells.
IB-T101 is powered by OUTLAST, Inceptor Bio's novel platform that metabolically reprograms T cells to thrive in the hostile tumor microenvironment. The platform conditions for the fittest, most persistent T cells through controlled stress that mimics the tumor microenvironment.
"Similar to elite athletes training at high elevation, T cells conditioned in challenging environments develop the attributes needed to outperform in solid tumors,” Schroff explained.
The Investigator-Initiated Trial will be conducted in China in partnership with GRIT Biotechnology, a Shanghai-based cell therapy company.
Under the terms of a strategic partnership with GRIT Bio announced in December 2024, Inceptor Bio will grant Grit an exclusive license for IB-T101 in China. GRIT Bio will oversee development, manufacturing and commercialization.
Inceptor Bio is eligible to receive milestone payments and royalties upon IB-T101 achieving certain response criteria and plans to leverage clinical data from this collaboration to support regulatory submissions and development in other regions. Inceptor Bio retains rights to IB-T101 outside China.
Trial to enroll 12 patients
The trial will evaluate the safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy of IB-T101 in about 12 patients with ccRCC who have relapsed on prior VEGF-targeting therapies alone or in combination with an immune checkpoint inhibitor.
The trial will enroll patients across a dose-escalation phase to determine the optimal dose of IB-T101. The primary endpoints include safety and tolerability, while secondary endpoints will evaluate anti-tumor activity and pharmacokinetics.
"Dosing the first patient in a clinical trial is a significant milestone for any biotech company, and we are proud to support Inceptor Bio as they advance IB-T101 into the clinic," said Shailesh Maingi, managing partner of Kineticos Life Sciences. "The OUTLAST platform represents a compelling approach to addressing key challenges in CAR-T therapy, and we believe this program has the potential to make a real difference for patients with solid tumors."
IB-T101 demonstrated superior preclinical efficacy in an aggressive renal cell tumor model, significantly outperforming conventional CAR-T cells, according to Inceptor Bio. OUTLAST CAR-T cells exhibited higher activation levels and greater resistance to exhaustion – critical attributes for improved durability and effectiveness in solid tumors.
Inceptor Bio, founded in May 2020, is dedicated to advancing next-generation cell and gene therapies to cure solid tumor cancers.
