Solid tumors have been a tougher nut to crack for CAR T cells than B-cell cancers, for two main reasons. Solid tumors have an inhibitors microenvironment that has made it difficult to get durable responses. And identifying antigens as specific as the B-cell markers CD19 and CD22 has been challenging, leading to problems with on-target, off-tumor toxicity.

“We’re still a far cry from reproducible, durable benefits” with CAR T cells targeting solid tumors, Crystal Mackall told the audience at the 2022 annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). But “we’re beginning to see some signals.” Mackall is the founding director of the Stanford Center for Cancer Cell Therapy.

Cellpoint B.V. has picked up U.S and European rights to a chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapy from Shenzhen Pregene Biopharma Co. Ltd. Cellpoint will develop and commercialize the candidate, PRG-1801, for the treatment of hematological indications.

Cancer therapy developer Immpact Bio USA Inc. has raised $111 million to further its "logic gate"-based CAR T-cell platform, the source of a CD19/CD20 bispecific in phase I testing for B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients whose disease has returned or who has stopped responding to treatment. New data from that study, showing complete remissions in seven of eight patients treated, accompanied the appointment of a new president and CEO for the company as well as a new board chair.

Cell therapy developer Cellular Biomedicine Group Inc. (CBMG) completed a $120 million series A financing, its first since becoming a private company. The funds will benefit the U.S. and China-based firm’s CAR T pipeline.

Cell therapy developer Cellular Biomedicine Group Inc. (CBMG) completed a $120 million series A financing, its first since becoming a private company. The funds will benefit the U.S. and China-based firm’s CAR T pipeline, and the round was jointly led by Astrazeneca-CICC Fund, Sequoia Capital China and Yunfeng Capital. Existing investors including GIC Private Ltd. (formerly Government of Singapore Investment Corp.) and TF Capital also took part.

Citing the limited data for CAR T therapies in treating multiple myeloma, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review said their cost-effectiveness for some patients will depend on whether a second dose is needed.

Atara Biotherapeutics Inc. licensed a pair of mesothelin-directed CAR T treatments, ATA-2271 and ATA-3271, to Bayer AG for $60 million up front with the potential for $610 million in development, regulatory and commercialization milestone payments. Atara is also eligible for tiered royalties that peak in the low double-digit percentage of net sales of the two drugs. South San Francisco-based Atara will provide translational and clinical manufacturing services for the two drugs that will be reimbursed by Bayer.

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.”