Cellis has been recognized by the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) following the announcement that research underlying the Macrophage-Drug Conjugate (MDC) technology received the Pfizer Research Foundation Prize 2026 in Oncology.
The award was granted for the publication “Adoptive cell therapy with macrophage-drug conjugates facilitates cytotoxic drug transfer and immune activation in glioblastoma models”, published in Science Translational Medicine in June 2025. The study demonstrates how macrophage-based cell therapy can deliver anti-cancer drugs directly into tumors while simultaneously activating anti-tumor immunity.
The prize was awarded to Dr. Maciej Białasek (Cellis), Dr. Tobias Weiss, and Dr. Miaomiao Sun (University of Zurich) for their contributions to the development of the MDC platform through international collaboration.
The research was carried out as part of the project “Innovative cellular therapy for glioma”, developed by Cellis with support from NCBR and the European Funds under the Smart Growth Operational Programme. The project enabled the development of the MDC therapeutic platform and the preparation of its first product candidate for clinical development.
“The Pfizer Research Foundation Prize 2026 was awarded to Cellis in recognition of the breakthrough publication in Science Translational Medicine, which resulted from our project on an innovative cellular therapy for glioma. This is a prestigious distinction, as it is granted only to teams that have made a significant contribution to the advancement of oncology and demonstrated real translational potential – the possibility of translating scientific discoveries into therapies available to patients,” said Prof. Magdalena Król, Chief Scientific Officer of Cellis.
“The Pfizer Research Foundation Prize 2026 gives us not only prestige, but also greater visibility in the scientific and investor communities, which will accelerate the implementation of clinical studies and further development of our platform in Poland and globally,” she added.
Macrophage-Drug Conjugates represent a new class of cell-based therapeutics designed to selectively deliver anti-cancer drugs to tumors while stimulating immune responses. The MDC platform is currently being advanced toward clinical trials and explored across multiple solid tumor indications.
Read more on the NCBR website:https://www.gov.pl/web/ncbr/beneficjent-ncbr-z-prestizowa-nagroda-za-badania-w-onkologii
