Cell therapy weekly: Advancing CAR-T therapies with decoy-resistant IL-18
This week: Myrobalan Therapeutics (MA, USA) secured US$24 million in Series A funding to develop innovative neurorestorative therapies, TG Therapeutics (NY, USA) will develop Precision BioSciences’ (NC, USA) cell therapy, azer-cel, for autoimmune diseases and other indications outside of cancer, and Simcha Therapeutics (CT, USA) partnered with Janssen Biotech (CA, USA) to enhance CAR T-cell therapies using interleukin-18 (IL-18) technology.
The news highlights:
- Series A funding will advance novel therapies for central nervous system disease
- Precision BioSciences licenses azer-cel to TG Therapeutics for autoimmune and non-cancer indications
- Advancing CAR-T cancer therapies with decoy-resistant IL-18
Series A funding will advance novel therapies for central nervous system disease
Myrobalan Therapeutics has secured US$24 million in Series A funding. Myrobalan is developing novel orally available neurorestorative therapies to address a broad range of degenerative central nervous system diseases by leveraging novel targets involved in demyelination and neuroinflammation. This financing will enable the company to advance its first program to the clinic.
“Myrobalan’s approach to targeting GPR17, CSF1R, TYK2 and other key drivers of [central nervous system] disease is both novel and timely,” said co-founder of Myrobalan, Zhigang He. “Since our foundational research established the important roles these targets can play across multiple CNS diseases, it is exciting to see Myrobalan rapidly advancing these therapeutics for patients.”
Precision BioSciences licenses azer-cel to TG Therapeutics for autoimmune and non-cancer indications
Precision BioSciences has completed a licensing agreement with TG Therapeutics for the cell therapy Azercabtagene Zapreleucel (azer-cel). Under the terms of the agreement TG Therapeutics will assume the development of azer-cel for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and other non-cancer indications. Precision BioSciences will receive US$17.5 million in upfront and near-term payments in exchange for the global rights to azer-cel for the indications mentioned, with the potential for other development milestone payments totaling US$288 million.
“We are excited to extend the utility of our allogeneic CAR-T assets into immunology by collaborating with TG Therapeutics as they advance novel treatments for B-cell diseases. Key factors in our decision to partner with the TG team include their recent development, regulatory and commercial successes in the multiple sclerosis space, which we believe are strong indicators of the commitment and expertise they will bring to the development of azer-cel in autoimmune diseases,” said Michael Amoroso, President and CEO at Precision BioSciences. “As TG Therapeutics assumes development of azer-cel for immunology, Precision will remain focused on capitalizing on the utility of ARCUS for gene elimination and gene insertion, beginning with our wholly owned PBGENE-HBV program for chronic hepatitis B and PBGENE-PMM for primary mitochondrial myopathy.”
Advancing CAR-T cancer therapies with decoy-resistant IL-18
Simcha Therapeutics partnered with Janssen Biotech, a Johnson & Johnson company, to license its proprietary decoy-resistant IL-18 for enhancing select CAR T-based cell therapy candidates. Janssen will handle the development, manufacturing, and commercialization of decoy-resistant IL-18 armored cell therapies for a specified number of programs. In return Simcha will receive an undisclosed upfront fee, potential option exercise fees, and development and commercialization milestone payments.
“Interest in developing IL-18 therapeutic approaches for cancer has continued to increase in recent years, tying back to findings published by our scientific founder that reinvigorated therapeutic interest in this cytokine. Armoring CAR T cells to secrete IL-18 is one of the most exciting areas of research and we are proud to move the research forward with Janssen,” said Sanuj Ravindran, CEO of Simcha. “We will continue to expand our focus on IL-18 and the range of modalities that have potential to significantly improve outcomes for cancer patients, including through our internal development programs and additional strategic partnerships in the future.”
