Senhwa Biosciences yesterday (12th) announced a strategic collaboration with CancerFree Biotech, a company with a globally exclusive cancer drug testing platform. Through CancerFree Biotech’s E.V.A. Select Tumor Avatar Anti-Cancer Drug Testing Platform, the partnership aims to precisely identify patient populations most responsive to Senhwa’s novel drugs, CX-5461 and CX-4945, significantly increasing the success rate of clinical trials, accelerating drug development, and strengthening global market competitiveness.
The E.V.A. Select platform, developed through technology transfer from Taipei Medical University, represents a disruptive innovation. By analyzing only 20 cc of blood, the platform isolates and cultures “tumor avatars” from patients’ circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and conducts multi-drug simultaneous testing, enabling physicians to quickly identify optimal treatment strategies. The technology can currently generate over 100 cancer models and has been tested in more than 1,500 patients, with preclinical accuracy for pancreatic cancer approaching 80%. This breakthrough has received high recognition from both the medical and industrial sectors.
Dr. Lu Long-Sheng, inventor of the platform and Attending Physician of Radiation Oncology at Taipei Medical University Hospital, emphasized that the “tumor avatar” concept translates a patient’s disease characteristics into an in vitro chip-based testing system, providing clinicians with scientific data to quickly design more precise and effective treatment plans—realizing the promise of precision oncology.
Senhwa Biosciences Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Huang Pin-Yan, highlighted three key aspects of the collaboration: precision patient selection, enhanced combination therapy and solid tumor applications, and building big data with AI predictive models. First, by using the tumor avatar technology, the E.V.A. Select platform can precisely identify patients likely to respond to CX-5461 and CX-4945, reducing clinical trial failure risk and expanding indications.
Dr. Huang further noted that CX-5461 is currently undergoing clinical trials in combination with PD-1 inhibitors under the U.S. NCI-NExT program. Research shows CX-5461 can modify the tumor immune microenvironment, promoting infiltration of dendritic cells, natural killer cells, and cytotoxic T cells, establishing long-term immune memory, eliminating tumors, and preventing recurrence—overcoming limitations of immune checkpoint inhibitors. Importantly, no bone marrow toxicity has been observed with CX-5461, allowing safe combination with immunotherapy to enhance immune response. By screening responsive patient populations through the tumor avatar platform, clinical success rates and patient survival may be further improved.
Additionally, the collaboration will generate a large database of clinical and drug response data, which, combined with AI algorithms, will support personalized precision medicine predictive models, creating a new commercial value chain and opening new opportunities in the data-driven precision oncology economy.
Senhwa Biosciences Executive Vice President, Chang Hsiao-Ping, stated that the company has long focused on global development of innovative cancer therapies. CX-5461 and CX-4945 have received support from international institutions, including the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Boston Children’s Cancer Research Center (BCCRC), and are currently in multi-center clinical trials. This collaboration not only accelerates clinical progress but also provides Senhwa with differentiated data advantages for international licensing negotiations, investor communications, and multinational partnerships. The company plans to integrate additional top scientific teams to expand into global markets and enhance its drug value chain.
CancerFree Biotech CEO, Chen Po-Han, emphasized that the collaboration will help identify the right patients for potential therapies more quickly, speeding up development and offering new treatment options for patients with metastatic or refractory cancers. Both Senhwa and CancerFree Biotech stressed that this partnership represents more than just a combination of drugs and technology—it is a strategic integration of precision medicine and innovative therapy. Moving forward, the two companies will accelerate clinical application and commercialization of cancer treatments, providing a new pathway for delivering the best precision therapy to patients with advanced or treatment-resistant cancers.
Resource: 生華科攜精拓生技 打造精準腫瘤分身助攻新藥開發
