ValidaTe just gave the answer to one of the hardest problems in TCRm-based immunotherapy

04.08.2026
Two years ago, we set out to solve one of the hardest problems in TCRm-based immunotherapy: how to systematically predict and eliminate off-target toxicity before it kills the program in the clinic.

Our team just published the answer (click to read the article at biorxiv). BioCopy’s ValidaTe platform screened over 5,000 peptide-HLA complexes in three hours and identified a lead TCRm antibody with ~90% fewer confirmed off-targets than a benchmark molecule.

For context: off-target toxicity has been the single biggest barrier to bringing TCR-mimic therapeutics to patients. Industry approaches test candidates against dozens of peptides over weeks. ValidaTe tests thousands in hours. That’s not an incremental improvement — it’s a fundamentally different approach to safety.

Our proof-of-concept target is MAGE-A4/HLA-A*02 — the same validated cancer-testis antigen behind Adaptimmune’s TECELRA, now applied in an off-the-shelf T-cell engager format for non-small cell lung cancer.

Congratulations to our CSO Joerg Birkenfeld, first author Simon Schuster, and the entire team of 31 scientists across BioCopy, Charité Berlin (Martin Klatt), and the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics (Hartmut Michel). This is what happens when rigorous science meets a clear therapeutic vision.

And the commercial potential is as mind-blowing as our science magic. We continue to engage with partners who want to apply ValidaTe to their own targets. If you’re building a pHLA-directed pipeline, let’s talk.