Bespoke, build-to-order
T-Cell Therapy
T cells are our guardians. When options run out, we develop bespoke therapies that empower a patient’s own T cells to fight advanced cancer.
The Unsung Guardians Within
T cells—a type of white blood cell—are the protectors within each of us. They patrol our bodies, eliminating damaged cells with hidden infections or cancer-causing mutations, helping keep us healthy throughout much of our lives. Achelois develops technology that harnesses the power of these natural defenders and transforms them into living medicines.
The living medicine in you.
Each of us carries hundreds of billions of T-cell “drugs” that naturally find and remove damaged cells caused by infections or cancer—threats that many traditional drugs struggle to target. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy, which leverages a patient’s own T cells naturally present within the tumor, has demonstrated this potential. However, reliance on surgery and inconsistent T-cell quantity and quality limit the use of TILs in advanced disease.
Why cancer slips through.
Your T cells patrol your body, detecting and eliminating danger while building defenses for future threats. But sometimes the immune system falters, and cancer finds ways to evade it—by preventing proper T-cell training, for example, utilizing mechanisms of self-avoidance, or by creating a hostile tumor environment that weakens these cells.
When cancer slips through, we must restart the system—giving our cancer-fighting T cells better intelligence and stronger armor to win the fight.
Tumor Microenvironment
Cancer-fighting T cells are dormant or suppressed by the tumor.
Empowering your guardians.
Our clinical approach is designed to program your own tumor cells to select and train your cancer-fighting T cells through three precise steps.
APTC (Training)
Giving a "Most-Wanted" File
Every patient’s cancer is unique and constantly changing. Designing drugs to chase rare, moving targets is extremely difficult. We turn a patient’s own tumor cells into teachers called APTCs (antigen-presenting tumor cells). These APTCs show T cells exactly what to attack and how to fight the cancer.
Ag-T (Growing)
Building an Army
Using APTCs, we activate and expand a patient’s cancer-fighting T cells—called antigen-specific T cells (Ag-T)—from their own blood. To beat cancer, it’s not enough to have better defenders; we need enough of them to break through the tumor’s defenses.
GEM (Equipping)
Performance boost with GEMs
We equip expanded cancer-fighting T cells with GEMs (Genetically Engineered Modifiers)—natural armor that boosts their potency and protects them from tumor-driven suppression. This gives T cells greater strength and advantages in combating advanced cancer.
Better Medicine. Unmatched Durability Potential.
T cells are uniquely evolved to recognize cancer cells with hidden, often undruggable targets. Durable responses and cures depend on effective T-cell engagement, as demonstrated by immune checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T therapies. Our platform unlocks the potential of the cancer-fighting T-cells for patients with advanced cancer.
Personalized
Built with patients' own tumor and T cells.
Durable
Treat and prevent with patients' own T cells.
Enhanced
Boosted with natural modifiers from T cells.
Programs
We are building a portfolio of bespoke T-cell therapies for advanced solid tumors and hematologic malignancies, progressing through IIT and Phase I development.
GEM/CD19-CAR
Relapsed B-cell Malignancies
GEM/Ag-T
Multiple Solid Tumors
GEM-Ag-T
Rare Solid Tumors
GMP Manufacturing
Achelois is ISO 13485 certified with a GMP facility, supported by a digital QMS and workflow infrastructure, enabling bespoke T‑cell therapies for clinical studies.
About Us
We program a patient’s own tumor cells to train their T cells to fight cancer—bypassing the risky, costly, and time-consuming processes of target and drug discovery that leave too many patients waiting.
Leadership
Dr. Chang-Zheng (Eric) Chen
Founder & CEO
Leading the development of bespoke, patient-derived T-cell platforms to offer new solutions for patients with cancer.
Dr. William Hait
Strategic Consultant
Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. James Allison
Chairman, SAB | Nobel Laureate (2018)
Dr. Padmanee Sharma
Member, SAB | MD Anderson
Dr. Cassian Yee
Member, SAB | MD Anderson
Dr. Richard Colonno
Member, SAB | Antiviral Expert
Work with Us to Help Patients with Advanced Cancer
Patients are waiting. Achelois is developing bespoke T-cell therapies for advanced cancer by training and re-engaging a patient’s own cancer-fighting T cells using the patient's tumor cells. This approach enables a faster, more natural, and potentially more effective path to durable therapies for cancer patients.
Strategic Partnerships
Open to co-development opportunities for solid tumor indications.