Nanobiotix SA announced that it will begin a pre-clinical collaboration with Providence Cancer Institute to study Nanobiotix's lead product, NBTXR3, a first-in-class nanoparticle designed for direct injection into cancerous tumors and activation by radiotherapy. The collaboration with Providence Cancer Institute, located at the Robert W. Franz Cancer Center in Portland, Ore., will provide essential preclinical data on the ability of NBTXR3 activated by radiotherapy to induce an antitumoral immune response. This is an in-depth study into the early immunologic mechanisms, triggered by nanoparticles activated by radiotherapy compared to radiotherapy alone, and their impact on tumor control, survival and metastasis spreading. The collaboration between Providence and Nanobiotix will take place over the course of one year, and will evaluate the use of NBTXR3 activated by radiotherapy in pancreatic cancer models (in vitro and in vivo). Pancreatic cancer is a disease with a substantial unmet medical need, poor response to standard of care and is the third leading cause of cancer mortality in both men and women in the United State. Pancreatic cancers have a non-immunogenic tumor microenvironnement, known as "cold tumors", and often have a poor response rate to immunotherapies. The results of this joint program will enable the potential to explore future use of NBTXR3 in immunooncology as well as its potential to control metastatic disease. In parallel, the company has received the approval of its Investigational New Drug (IND) and will launch its first clinical trial combining NBTXR3 with immune checkpoint inhibitors in the U.S. with a multi-arm trial targeting a sub-population of advanced lung cancer patients and head and neck cancer patients.