Intra-ImmuSG Pte Ltd (IISG), is a Phase 2 clinical-stage biotechnology company developing several First-in-Class humanized antibody drugs as targeted immunotherapies to inhibit a broad range of common types of tumors overexpressing intracellular oncoproteins.
The story of IISG started in 1998 when our founder, a Research Director, Professor Qi Zeng, and her team identified Phosphatase of Regenerating Liver 3 (PRL3) (Zeng et al., BBRC, 1998) in the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), a Research Institute (RI) of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
In 2008, she proposed an unconventional concept of using antibody drugs (rather than small chemical compounds) to block tumors overexpressing intracellular oncoproteins. Based on the concept, PRL3-zumab was then generated to treat multiple (PRL3) positive cancers.
PRL3-zumab, our first Flagship drug, provides a totally new paradigm for immunotherapy to treat not only cancers, but also other human diseases associated with PRL3 overexpression. IISG has a rich pioneering platform with a strong clinical pipeline of humanized antibody drugs / vaccinations to meet urgent unmet medical needs and to offer new hope for hard-to-treat patients across the world.
In Dec 2015, with support from A*STAR, IISG was spun-off as a biotech company from A*STAR and founded by Professor Qi Zeng, a dedicated scientist with expertise in animal models and cancer biology. PRL3-zumab is a ‘Research Product’ derived from her team’s 20 years of intensive basic research and clinically-relevant animal models to treat cancers, followed by rigorous translational research and then moving into First in Man trials in 2017 after gaining approval from Health Sciences Authority (HSA) in Singapore.
From 2017-2018, PRL3-zumab completed Phase 1A and 1B Clinical Trials at the National University Hospital Singapore (NUHS). The study revealed the drug’s strong safety profile and early efficacy.
In 2019, PRL3-zumab commenced Phase 2 clinical trials for Gastric cancer and Hepatocellular carcinoma as advanced solid tumors at the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) after obtaining approval from Health Sciences Authority (HSA), Singapore.
In 2020, PRL3-zumab Phase 2 clinical trials were approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States, and the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) in China for all solid tumors in a multi-center collaboration between IISG and several leading hospitals in the United States and in China respectively.
