Our BDC-3042 product candidate reawakens myeloid cells to attack tumor cells. We discovered an agonist monoclonal antibody that is capable of binding to and activating a pattern-recognition receptor (known as Dectin-2) on tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) in a broad range of solid tumors. BDC-3042 works by repolarizing TAMs from tumor-supportive to tumor-destructive. It is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 trial.

Despite the power of newer cancer treatments, their utility is often reduced due to side effects from a drug’s impact on healthy cells and from treatment-generated systemic immune responses that aren’t tumor-specific enough. Threading this needle to treat cancer with minimal side effects is made more difficult because cancer originates from a person’s own cells and every cancer is unique. Our approach works with a person’s body by teaching the immune system to recognize and kill cancer in a way that is immediately personalized to each patient’s tumor.

Our Immune-Stimulating Antibody Conjugate (ISAC) platform technology enables tumor-specific activation of the innate immune system which generates a durable anti-cancer adaptive immune response. ISACs use the precision of antibody targeting to harness the power of the innate immune system, which reprograms the tumor microenvironment and invokes a new anti-tumor immune response that can spread to the adaptive immune system.