UK biotech Swarm lands with a T-cell therapy mission
Martin Olin has been named chief executive of the UK startup.
Resolution Therapeutics co-founder Professor John Campbell has a new biotech venture – Swarm Oncology – which has just emerged from stealth in the UK.
The new biotech has been set up to develop a T-cell therapy platform that aims to overcome the shortcomings of current approaches in the treatment of solid tumours, drawing on Campbell's expertise in T-cell manufacturing gained in his former role of director of tissues, cells, and advanced therapeutics (TCAT) at the Edinburgh-based Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service.
The company's approach involves in vivo priming of a relevant immune response in the patient, screening for patients that are likely to respond to T-cell therapy, isolating the correct cells, and expanding the relevant population of therapeutic cells without exhausting the immune system.
The priming approach relies on proprietary ex vivo cell processing to generate large numbers of T-cells with the ability to home in on, infiltrate, and kill solid tumours, according to the company.
Swarm was formed in 2022 and has now emerged with Martin Olin – previously chief executive of BerGenBio and Symphogen – at the helm. Olin is also chairman of Denmark's Cessatech and Swedish biotech Acusort and previously worked at venture capital company SLS Invest and pharma company Novo Nordisk.
Olin said that Swarm's platform "delivers unprecedented numbers, specificity, potency and durability of T-cells" and has been designed "from the ground up to address critical limitations of current immunotherapies including exhaustion, inadequate numbers, and lack of sufficient diversity."
For now, details of the start-up's pipeline are sketchy, but the company has said it expects to advance its first therapeutic candidate into clinical trials in the next 12-15 months.
The company was co-founded by life sciences investment group Delin Ventures. Partner Jonathan Hay said the technology has the potential to transform the treatment of solid cancers by generating a cellular immune response that is optimised to home to and infiltrate cancers and create the durable immune memory needed to achieve long-term remissions.
"We are delighted to support the appointment of Martin Olin as CEO of Swarm Oncology, who brings a wealth of experience in company building and oncology, and I look forward to working together," said Hay.
Campbell remains an advisor to Resolution Therapeutics, which has advanced a macrophage-based cell therapy into a phase 1/2 clinical trial in patients with end-stage liver disease. He is also chief scientific officer of UK contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) Adthera Bio, which specialises in cell therapies.
