Catalysts
SQZ Biotech has catalysts over the next 12-18 months on their lead drug program, new drug candidates, and business development. Phase 1 data on SQZ-APC in HPV+ solid tumors is set to come out in the second half of 2021. The company is initiating trials for combinations with checkpoint inhibitors this year. The company is also planning to initiate more INDs in the next 18 months for HBV and KRAS-mutant cancers.<---- This work will bring SQZ’s AAC and TAC technologies into the clinic. Lastly, the company is focused on expanding application to point-of-care manufacturing and new partnership deals over the next 2 years.
Lastly, SQZ management has communicated that their APC program in HPV will have a ~10x lower manufacturing cost than CAR-T cell therapies, which would imply the costs for SQZ would be less than $10K per dose. This price point would be pretty transformational for the cell therapy field in general, which has been struggling with scaling manufacturing and cost efficiencies.
Figure 4: Preclinical data of SQZ Biotech’s lead drug candidate’s ability to activate CD8+ (“killer”) T-cells (Source:SQZ Biotech corporate presentation)

SQZ Biotech has catalysts over the next 12-18 months on their lead drug program, new drug candidates, and business development. Phase 1 data on SQZ-APC in HPV+ solid tumors is set to come out in the second half of 2021. The company is initiating trials for combinations with checkpoint inhibitors this year. The company is also planning to initiate more INDs in the next 18 months for HBV and KRAS-mutant cancers.<---- This work will bring SQZ’s AAC and TAC technologies into the clinic. Lastly, the company is focused on expanding application to point-of-care manufacturing and new partnership deals over the next 2 years.
Lastly, SQZ management has communicated that their APC program in HPV will have a ~10x lower manufacturing cost than CAR-T cell therapies, which would imply the costs for SQZ would be less than $10K per dose. This price point would be pretty transformational for the cell therapy field in general, which has been struggling with scaling manufacturing and cost efficiencies.
Figure 4: Preclinical data of SQZ Biotech’s lead drug candidate’s ability to activate CD8+ (“killer”) T-cells (Source:SQZ Biotech corporate presentation)
