When the first chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapy, Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel), was approved in 2016 for treating B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, its developer, Novartis AG, confined the initial rollout to just 20 treating centers. Its label carried a black box warning, because of the risk of life-threatening cytokine release syndrome, and Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis put in place a comprehensive risk evaluation and mitigation system to ensure its safe use. Catamaran Bio Inc., a Boston-based startup that has raised $42 million in seed and series A financing, is considering the administration of similarly engineered natural killer cells in walk-in clinics. “If the product is safe, it can be given as an out-patient treatment,” Chief Scientific Officer Vipin Suri told BioWorld. “As a field, this absolutely has to be our ambition.”
Gracell Biotechnologies Inc. has closed a $100 million series C financing round to advance its CAR T-cell therapy candidates, including autologous product candidate, GC-012F, and allogeneic product candidate, GC-027. Both candidates are in investigator-initiated phase I trials in China.
Crispr Therapeutics AG's first stab at developing an allogeneic CAR T-cell therapy, CTX-110, looks promising, but the efficacy data were overshadowed by a death in the study.
HONG KONG – Xi’an, China-based Yufan Biotechnologies Co. Ltd. has partnered with Pittsburgh-based Abound Bio Inc. to discover and develop antibodies directing CAR T cells against cancer targets.
PERTH, Australia – Sydney-based Chimeric Therapeutics Ltd. has acquired exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize the City of Hope Cancer Center’s chlorotoxin chimeric antigen receptor cell therapy that uses a peptide derived from scorpion toxin to direct T cells to target glioblastoma.
Two California companies – Nkarta Inc. and Poseida Therapeutics Inc. – scored impressive IPOs but with decidedly different post-pricing performance, as Wall Street showed its enthusiasm for the former’s natural killer (NK) cell research by pushing shares (NASDAQ:NKTX) up 166%, to close July 10 at $47.90, an increase of $29.90.
Shanghai-based Fosun Kite Biotechnology Co. Ltd. secured another $20 million investment from Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co. Ltd. and Kite Pharma Inc., which each contributed $10 million. The fund will support further clinical trials and manufacturing of its CAR T candidates, including FKC-876, which looks likely to become the first CAR T therapy approved in China.
BEIJING – CAR T therapy developer JW Therapeutics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. raised another $100 million this week after securing $90 million in series A round in 2018. The funds will continue to go toward its lead program, JWCAR-029, a CAR T-cell product targeting CD19 that is now in a phase II study.
Allogene Therapeutics Inc. investors will have to wait for an update in the second half of this year to find out more about whether off-the-shelf ALLO-501 can durably stand up to autologous CAR T-cell therapies, but early data disclosed at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting is creating buzz in the meantime.
SUZHOU, China – Genome editing startup Edigene Inc. and CAR T developer Immunochina Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., both from Beijing, have unveiled joint efforts to develop an allogeneic CAR T therapy for cancer. Terms remain undisclosed.
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