Marianne De backer m.b.a., m.sc. on immunotherapy
From Vir Biotechnology: Marianne De Backer on Immuno-Oncology, Hepatitis Delta, and Biotech Turnarounds · · IDEA Pharma
“So, you know you probably are very familiar there's already I think nine or 10 T- cell engagers on the market for you know mostly hematic tumors so blood cancers but in solid tumors these this modality has really been held back by toxicity so T- cell engagers are you know by specific molecules they're like a portion of an antibbody so to make it very simple that binds on the one hand the tumor associated antigen on the cancer cell and on the other hand binds the CD3 binding do the main with the T- cell and so it brings the cancer cells and T- cell in close proximity so the T- cells can get activated and actually do cancer directed killing that is incredibly powerful because what you're basically doing is you don't need to take the immune cells out of the human body modify them and place them back no you're just really using the tea cells that are already present in the tumor or in the the patient and you try to activate and to recognize the tumor and start killing it. So if you can do that, it's incredibly powerful. But as I mentioned in solid tumors, that had been very difficult up to now because what typically happens is that those T- cell engagers also get activated in human healthy tissue and when that happens you get, you know, cytoine release syndrome, you get you know high level of toxicities. So you know it had been very difficult to achieve any efficacy with an acceptable safety level for any you know T- cell engager almost.”
On , Marianne De backer m.b.a., m.sc., Chief Executive Officer & Director at VIR BIOTECHNOLOGY INC, spoke about immunotherapy during Vir Biotechnology: Marianne De Backer on Immuno-Oncology, Hepatitis Delta, and Biotech Turnarounds on IDEA Pharma.
About Marianne De backer m.b.a., m.sc.
Marianne De Backer, CEO of Vir Biotechnology, discussed the company’s strategic turnaround in an April 2026 podcast interview. She noted that Vir Biotechnology was "incredibly successful during the COVID pandemic" with its drug sotrovimab, but after the virus evolved new variants, the company "went from a billion dollars in revenue one year to almost none the next." De Backer stated that she downsized the company by about one-third and closed some sites, adding that "cash is king" and that "you can have the best science and the best ideas in the world, but you need to fund your operations." De Backer described refocusing Vir Biotechnology on immuno-oncology and infectious disease, highlighting its masked T-cell engager pipeline and PRO-XTEN® masking platform. She said the company secured "more than a half billion in upfront income" through deals with Orion and Astellas, as well as a $173 million financing. De Backer also mentioned meeting with Dr. Mer Machi as part of a group of biotech CEOs, stating that "we are in a competitive global environment" and that she is "hopeful we will see changes to move faster across regulatory processes."