The Problem

In recent years, targeted immune therapies are emerging as standard treatments for advanced-stage cancers. These drugs target cell surface checkpoint proteins to stimulate the recognition and destruction of cancer cells by the immune system. Nevertheless, while the immune checkpoint blockade approach can induce durable responses across multiple types of malignancies, these remarkable responses are currently limited to a minority of patients.

The Solution

By identifying specific inhibitors for ADAR, a novel key player in immunotherapy resistance, targeted immune therapies will be applicable for a larger number of patients.

The Commercial Benefit

ADAR inhibitors can be utilized to find molecules that can overcome the resistance to immune checkpoint blockade, and enable more patients to benefit from the most effective anti-cancer therapy available today.

Market Potential

The global immune checkpoint inhibitors market was valued at ~ $30B in 2020, and is projected to reach ~$141B by 2030, registering a CAGR of 16.8% from 2021 to 2030. The market grow this driven by the rise in prevalence of cancer across geographies, the growing awareness of immune checkpoint inhibitors, the technological advancements in screening procedure for cancer, increased healthcare expenditures, and increase in government initiatives to alleviate cancer.

Team: Primary Inventor

Prof. Erez Levanon

• Prof. Erez Levanon is a Senior Lecturer in the Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences and recipient of the Alon Fellowship for 2011.
• Erez Levanon came to Bar-Ilan University from Harvard Medical School as part of the 2009 cohort of returning scientists, a special program within Bar-Ilan University to recruit young Israeli scientists to return to work in Israel.
• Prof. Levanon published more than 80 research papers which were quoted over 7500 times.
• He authored patents in the field of genome engineering.