TC BioPharm (Holdings) plc (NASDAQ: TCBP), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing platform allogeneic gamma-delta T cell therapies for cancer and other indications, announced on Tuesday that it has entered into a research planning collaboration with Dr Carlos Maluquer de Motes, a reader and principal investigator at the University of Surrey in the UK.

The research planning collaboration is intended to develop a treatment for Monkeypox.

Dr Maluquer de Motes works closely with The Pirbright Institute, a centre of excellence in research of viral diseases that spread from animals to humans.

Bryan Kobel, TC BioPharm CEO, said: "We've seen the ramifications of a global pandemic and the havoc it can inflict. There is significant data stating that a successful immune response to viral infection is heavily reliant on the presence of gamma delta t-cells, both in the preventative sense and in the successful outcomes of patients with viral infection. We believe that our lead therapeutic TCB008 could play an important role in treating this virus as well as other infectious diseases, providing a bolstered level of gamma delta t-cells to generate a more effective immune response in patients who are facing severe viral infection.

"TCB also intends to explore the use of TCB008 in a prophylactic setting for infectious diseases with the intent to provide TCB008 in a supportive or adjunct use for patients at high risk of infection to various diseases when immune-compromised or suppressed in hospital settings or by age where the immune system and gamma delta t-cell population has weakened."