Despite the success of traditional viral-based CAR T-cell therapies against several blood malignancies, their efficacy remains limited against solid tumors. Non-viral engineering of CAR T cells using electroporation or lipid nanoparticle delivery of CAR-encoding mRNA achieves high but transient CAR expression, highlighting the limitations of current preclinical models for evaluating mRNA-based CAR T cells.
Hangzhou Qihan Biotech Co. Ltd. has gained IND approval by the FDA for QT-019B, a universal, dual-target CAR T-cell therapy for refractory systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). A phase I/II trial will be conducted in the U.S.
With the trial sites now open for its CRISPR-edited T-cell receptor immunotherapy trial, Anocca AB has raised SEK440 million (US$46 million) to fund the phase I part of the multicenter study to completion. The company’s engineered T-cell receptor T-cell therapy (TCR-T) is first being tested against KRAS mutations in pancreatic cancer.
After about a two-week absence as the U.S. FDA’s CBER director, Vinay Prasad’s return overall prompted a mild reaction on Wall Street for some stocks tied to companies developing cell and gene therapies.
As biotech zombies with failed programs and money in hand go, Galapagos NV is a notable example, with a number of misses in the clinic, $3.1 billion in the bank, and a market capitalization of $2.19 billion.
The news that Vinay Prasad has stepped down as CBER director at the U.S. FDA had some biotech stocks literally jumping in joy as the market opened July 30. Meanwhile, Prasad’s decisions regarding vaccine development, as well as actions by Makary and HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy, are coming under fire.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota and collaborating institutions have developed a promising stem cell-based therapy for the treatment of muscular dystrophies. The team has successfully created a novel myogenic progenitor cell product called Myopaxon, derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).
Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most frequent cancer affecting soft tissues in children, and existing therapies often fail to stop relapse or prolong survival. Researchers in Germany and the U.K. have developed a potential new therapy based on natural killer cells expressing a chimeric antigen receptor against epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR-CAR).
The complete remission of a testicular cancer patient receiving Mink Therapeutics Inc.’s allogeneic, off-the-shelf invariant natural killer T-cell therapy Agent-797 with nivolumab drove the company’s shares up by 730% July 11. The results, published in Nature’s Oncogene, described the complete, durable remission of a 49-year-old man with a germ cell neoplasm, showing no evidence of disease two years after receiving a single infusion.
Despite the increasing sophistication of anticancer therapies, many malignancies continue to evade treatment. T cells expressing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) can effectively attack some tumors by recognizing antigens expressed on the tumor surface, but the therapy may prove ineffective if the target antigen is not abundant enough throughout the tumor.
RSS
