Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is one of the most aggressive breast cancer subtypes, accounting for about 15% of diagnoses but responsible for a high number of deaths. Pan Cancer T, a biotech company based in Rotterdam, aims to change that.
The company is developing a new generation of T-cell receptor (TCR)-T cell therapies for solid tumours that have resisted existing treatments. It has secured €10 million in fresh financing, including €5 million in equity from Van Herk Ventures, Thuja Capital, Erasmus MC O&O Holdings, and InnovationQuarter and a €5 million Innovation Credit from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, to move its lead program, PCT1:CO-STIM, into its first clinical trial targeting TNBC.
With this support, Pan Cancer T is ready to move from preclinical validation to patient studies at leading cancer centres in the Netherlands next year.
Making T-cell therapies effective against solid tumours
Prof. Dr Reno Debets and Dr Dora Hammerl founded Pan Cancer T as a spin-out from Erasmus MC in Rotterdam. The founders recognised that while TCR-T therapies had shown promise in blood cancers, their potential in solid tumours remained untapped due to barriers such as tumour heterogeneity and the hostile microenvironment.
“Our mission is to empower a patient’s own immune cells to tackle hard-to-treat cancers like TNBC”, said Rachel Abbott, Chief Executive Officer of Pan Cancer T.
Pan Cancer T’s platform is PCT1:CO-STIM, an autologous TCR-T therapy directed against ROPN1, a novel tumour-specific antigen found in about 90% of TNBC and melanoma cases. Because ROPN1 is largely absent from healthy tissue, it offers a significantly wider safety margin than many existing TCR-T targets pursued by companies like Immatics, Adaptimmune, or Tessa Therapeutics.
The company’s co-stimulatory enhancement technology gives its approach an additional advantage. This proprietary design boosts T-cell activation and resilience, helping the modified cells maintain function in the immunosuppressive environment of solid tumours.
Beyond its current cell-based therapy, Pan Cancer T is also exploring an in vivo version of the same technology, which could directly stimulate a patient’s own T cells within the body.
What’s next?
Pan Cancer T plans to file its regulatory application with the European Medicines Agency in 2026, paving the way for enrolment of the first TNBC patients soon after.
The initial clinical study will assess the therapy’s safety and tolerability, with early signs of benefit potentially opening the door to expansion into other ROPN1-positive cancers, including melanoma, colorectal, ovarian, and gastric tumours.
