10 May 2019 - - Chinese biotechnology company Clover Biopharmaceuticals has received Clinical Trial Application approval from the Chinese National Medical Products Administration to conduct clinical trials in China with SCB-313, an investigational fully-human TRAIL-Trimer fusion protein, for the treatment of cancer patients with intracavitary malignancies, the company said.

A phase I clinical trial for malignant ascites is planned to initiate in China this year.

Clover Biopharmaceuticals is a global, clinical-stage, research-based biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing and commercialising biologic therapies, with a focus on oncology and autoimmune diseases.

Clover is utilizing its proprietary Trimer-Tag© technology platform to develop novel biologics targeting trimerization-dependent pathways.

Additionally, Clover is leveraging its in-house cGMP biomanufacturing capabilities to develop select biosimilars.

Trimer-Tag© is a drug development platform which allows the production of novel, covalently-trimerized fusion proteins.

Many major disease targets are trimerization-dependent such as the tumor necrosis factor superfamily (involved in extrinsic apoptosis, immune co-stimulation and inflammation) as well as enveloped RNA virus antigens responsible for entry into host cells.

Clover is using Trimer-Tag© technology to create trimerized fusion proteins that are able to effectively target these previously undruggable pathways.