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Funding will assist completion of IND-enabling actions and deliberate year-end IND submission for TAVST01, Tikva’s lead off-the-shelf CAR-T candidate concentrating on B7-H3-positive strong tumors
SINGAPORE, July 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Tikva Allocell Pte. Ltd. (“Tikva”), a biotechnology firm creating engineered, allogeneic (donor-derived) cell therapies for grownup and pediatric sufferers with strong tumors, at the moment introduced the closing of an $8 million Collection A financing led by Kantharos Capital.
Proceeds will fund IND-enabling actions and a deliberate year-end 2026 Investigational New Drug (IND) submission for TAVST01, Tikva’s lead candidate for B7-H3-positive strong tumors. Topic to regulatory clearance, the corporate plans to provoke a Section 1 scientific trial in sufferers with superior B7-H3-positive most cancers at websites in Singapore and the US.
TAVST01 targets B7-H3, a protein expressed throughout a broad vary of difficult-to-treat strong tumors, together with lung, breast, prostate, pancreatic, and pediatric cancers. Not like standard donor-derived cell therapies, which a affected person’s immune system usually clears earlier than they’ll work, TAVST01 is constructed from Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-specific T cells – immune cells the physique naturally sustains – and is engineered to withstand that rejection, with preclinical potential each to kill tumor cells immediately and to rework the immunosuppressive microenvironment that has restricted cell therapies in strong tumors. That sturdiness is not any accident: nearly everybody carries EBV from a previous an infection the immune system by no means absolutely clears, so the physique retains a standing inhabitants of those virus-specific T cells on patrol for years – precisely the endurance that donor-derived cell therapies have struggled to realize.
“Cell remedy has remodeled the therapy of blood cancers however has repeatedly stalled on the solid-tumor door – the donor cells both fail to persist or are eradicated by the affected person’s immune system earlier than they’ll act,” mentioned Dr. Ivan Horak, Founder and Chief Government Officer of Tikva Allocell. “We began from a special place: a virus-fighting T cell the physique naturally sustains, armed to hunt out B7-H3 and engineered to face up to the rejection that defeats most donor-derived approaches, with minimal gene enhancing. With this financing, we’re effectively positioned to finish IND-enabling research and advance TAVST01 towards its deliberate IND submission, bringing us nearer to delivering a scalable, available, and probably transformative cell remedy for sufferers with strong tumors.”
Tikva’s therapies are constructed on the ALLO SerpinB9 EBVST platform — an allogeneic, virus‑particular T‑cell know-how licensed completely from Baylor Faculty of Drugs and additional enhanced by Tikva’s proprietary protein‑engineering methods. These cells are geared up with a B7‑H3–concentrating on receptor and an optimized type of SerpinB9, a pure inhibitor of granzyme B, the enzyme immune cells use to kill their targets. As a result of a affected person’s immune system would usually assault donor cells utilizing granzyme B, the SerpinB9 “armor” allows Tikva’s cells to withstand rejection and stay lively. On the similar time, the method minimizes graft‑versus‑host illness (GvHD) with solely minimal gene enhancing.
“Our funding displays robust conviction in each Tikva’s science and its management workforce,” mentioned Terence Tan, Managing Associate at Kantharos Capital. “Tikva is addressing elementary challenges which have constrained allogeneic cell therapies, and we imagine its ALLO SerpinB9 EBVST platform can prolong the attain of cell remedy to solid-tumor sufferers who at the moment have restricted choices. We sit up for supporting the corporate towards IND submission and scientific analysis.”
About Tikva Allocell
Tikva Allocell Pte. Ltd., headquartered in Singapore, is a biotechnology firm creating engineered, allogeneic (donor‑derived) cell therapies for strong tumors. The corporate’s pipeline is constructed on the ALLO SerpinB9 EBVST platform—an allogeneic, virus‑particular T‑cell know-how licensed completely from Baylor Faculty of Drugs and enhanced by Tikva’s proprietary protein‑engineering methods. This platform integrates tumor‑concentrating on receptors akin to B7‑H3 with an optimized type of SerpinB9 to assist donor‑derived T cells resist granzyme‑B–mediated immune rejection, persist longer, and reduce graft‑versus‑host illness with minimal gene enhancing.
Tikva’s scientific basis is rooted in a long time of analysis at Baylor Faculty of Drugs by Dr. Malcolm Brenner, Dr. Cliona Rooney, and Dr. Helen Heslop—leaders in virus‑particular T‑cell biology—who co‑based Tikva with CEO Dr. Ivan Horak and function scientific advisors. The corporate’s lead program, TAVST01, is an off‑the‑shelf, B7‑H3‑focused EBV‑particular T‑cell remedy in IND‑enabling growth for a deliberate 12 months‑finish 2026 IND submission. TAVST01 is designed for sufferers with B7‑H3‑constructive strong tumors, together with lung, breast, prostate, pancreatic, and pediatric cancers, and has a preclinical profile that will assist lymphodepletion‑free administration, repeat dosing, and mixture methods. For extra data, go to www.tikvaallocell.com.
About Kantharos Capital
Kantharos Capital is a boutique non-public fairness agency based by a household workplace with greater than three a long time of enterprise investing expertise throughout Silicon Valley, China, and Singapore. It pairs institutional self-discipline with the persistence and long-term perspective of household capital to assist founders construct enduring companies.
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