Part of the series: 30 Visioneers Shaping the Future of Biotech in 2025

In the ever-evolving field of cancer immunotherapy, few efforts feel as promising—and as urgently needed—as those led by Tatiana Novobrantseva and the team at NextPoint Therapeutics. At the heart of their work lies a groundbreaking focus on the B7-H7 pathway, a novel target that offers a powerful alternative to the widely known PD-L1 axis. With roots in two simultaneous discoveries from top immunology labs, NextPoint is pioneering therapies that combine tumor destruction and immune system activation in innovative ways.

In this Q&A, Tatiana shares the science and vision behind NextPoint’s approach, how it differs from traditional therapies, and the real-world impact she hopes their research will have for patients and families facing the toughest battles of their lives.

Q: What inspired the creation of NextPoint Therapeutics, and why focus on the B7-H7 pathway in cancer treatment?

NextPoint has been created based on two simultaneous discoveries coming from the laboratories of Dr. Gordon Freeman and Dr. XingXing Zang that have identified inhibitory receptor for B7-H7, in addition to an earlier known stimulatory one. Not only the B7-H7 pathway looks like an alternative, non-redundant and not-interdependent pathway to the PD-L1 pathway, but it also represents a beautiful tumor target. NextPoint is positioned to benefit from creating therapies that combine both functions, oftentimes in one molecule!

Q: For people who may not be familiar with the science, how is NextPoint’s approach different from traditional cancer therapies?

Cancer has an unfortunate ability to evolve, therefore it is rare to hear about cancer cures despite humanities’ best efforts. Immune system is everyone’s actively evolving defense system that is continually protecting us against pathogens and cell malfunction. NextPoint is pursuing cancer therapies that go after a unique target that combines both the ability to directly destroy tumor cells and enhance immune response to these cells. The therapy is expected to benefit a large number of patients with cancers that have upregulated B7-H7. And NextPoint team has developed and is actively implementing a clinical assay for B7-H7 tumor expression, helping match the right patients with the right treatment.

Q: What kind of impact do you hope your work at NextPoint will have on patients and their families in the coming years?

Every patient who gets to see more of life’s important milestones is a win! And NextPoint’s pipeline is swiftly moving to bringing multiple different treatment options to a vast group of patients who do not have any now. If our hypothesis derived from preclinical experiments and deep understanding of biology holds true in the clinic, we can expect long-term responses, hopefully the ones that can be likened to cures. And cancer, a disease, personal to everyone, certainly needs another hard blow!