OncoHost Licenses Biosensing Technology From BGN Technologies to Predict Immunotherapy Response

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NEW YORK – OncoHost on Thursday said it has licensed artificial intelligence technology for predicting anti-PD-1 therapy response from BGN Technologies, the technology transfer company of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel.

The Immuno-checkpoint Artificial Reporter (IcAR) biosensing technology was developed by BGU researchers to measure binding of PD-L1 and PD-L2 to PD-1. In studies of PD-1 ligand binding, the researchers found that the functionality of binding was highly predictive of which patients would respond to anti-PD-1 therapy across all cancer types and could potentially be used to guide the use of many different types of immunotherapy.

Beer-Sheva, Israel-based BGN Technologies is hoping that IcAR will be able to identify accurately the between 20 percent and 40 percent of cancer patients who are likely to benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitors and do so better than existing PD-L1 biomarker tests, the use of which are presently limited to specific cancer types.

"IcAR boasts accuracy, sensitivity, and logical simplicity," Angel Porgador, a professor of health sciences at BGU, said in a statement. "The technology enables the screening of substantial samples without requiring additional biopsies or biological material, making it accessible to medical care both in Israel and abroad."

The companies didn't disclose the financial details of their agreement.

In June 2022, Cary, North Carolina- and Binyamina, Israel-based OncoHost licensed another technology, the SomaScan platform by SomaLogic, to predict patient responses to immunotherapy.