Sparx Group has formed a strategic alliance with Arovella Therapeutics Ltd. for the development of a CLDN18.2-chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cell therapy.
Recurrent driver mutations in FMS-related receptor tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) occur in around one-third of patients with de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Although most FLT3 mutations are secondary events in leukemogenesis, they are associated with accelerated clonal expansion and disease progression, and treatment with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor midostaurin has been shown to increase patients’ long-term survival. However, the efficacy of FLT3 inhibitors in eliminating FLT3-mutated clones is variable.
Medigene AG has selected its lead candidate for MDG-2011, a T-cell receptor engineered T-cell (TCR-T) therapy targeting KRAS G12V with HLA-A*11 and being developed in combination with the company’s PD1-41BB costimulatory switch protein (CSP) technology.
Xnk Therapeutics AB has entered into a research collaboration with the Karolinska University Hospital to evaluate the suitability of the company's preclinical autologous natural killer (NK) cell therapy candidate XNK-02 as a novel therapy for treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
Abata Therapeutics Inc. has announced its second development candidate, ABA-201, which has the potential to be a disease-modifying Treg cell therapy for patients with type 1 diabetes who have remaining β cell function. Abata expects to begin clinical studies in 2025.
Artiva Biotherapeutics Inc. has received FDA clearance of its IND application for Allonk (AB-101), to be used in combination with rituximab for treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in patients with active lupus nephritis.
Researchers at City of Hope were awarded $32.3 million from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to support three novel phase I clinical trials evaluating innovative cell and gene therapy treatments for patients with HIV, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and severe aplastic anemia.
Lift Biosciences Ltd. has reported a substantially marked increase in cancer killing with the attachment of HER2 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) to its immunomodulatory alpha neutrophil (IMAN) cell therapy, using the company’s second-generation N-Lift (neutrophil only leukocyte infusion therapy) platform. Positive data support the potential of the In-Lift platform to produce a variety of genetically engineered CAR-IMANs to enhance killing and more targeted immunomodulation for different tumor targets.
Transplanted human glial cells could outcompete human glia in a chimeric mouse model of Huntington’s disease, inducing apoptosis. And younger health cells could outcompete older ones. The findings, which appeared online in Nature Biotechnology on July 17, 2023, help pave the way for testing glial cell transplantation as a therapeutic strategy in neurodegenerative disorders.
Hangzhou Qihan Biotech Co. Ltd. has received clinical trial clearance from China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for QN-019a for CD19-positive relapsed/refractory aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.