Cell therapy weekly: Enhancing the effectiveness of cell therapies for solid tumors
This week: Charles River Laboratories (MA, USA) and Genetic Cures for Kids Inc. (GC4K; Queensland, Australia) have entered a collaboration for plasmid DNA contract development and manufacturing, ASG Therapeutics (CA, USA) has dosed the first patient in the company’s Phase I/IIa clinical trial of a hemophilia A gene therapy and Phenomic AI (Toronto, Canada) has entered a strategic research collaboration with Astellas (Tokyo, Japan) to enhance cell therapy approaches for the treatment of solid tumors.
The news highlights:
- GC4K partners with Charles River for accelerated gene therapy development
- First patient dosed in Phase I/IIa hemophilia A trial
- Partnership aims to enhance cell therapies for solid tumors
GC4K partners with Charles River for accelerated gene therapy development
Charles River Laboratories and GC4K have entered a collaboration for plasmid DNA contract development and manufacturing. The collaboration aims to advance GC4K’s mission of developing a gene therapy for the treatment of hereditary spastic paraplegia type 56, a progressive neurodegenerative disease with no current treatment options.
GC4K plans to utilize eXpDNA, Charles River’s established plasmid platform and the company’s expertise in plasmid DNA production to accelerate GC4K’s gene therapy program for hereditary spastic paraplegia type 56.
Kerstin Dolph, Corporate Senior Vice President of Biologics Solutions at Charles River, stated: “The opportunity to work with GC4K is exactly why we do what we do, playing a role in delivering potentially curative treatments to patients suffering with an ultra-rare disease. We are excited to support the team as they work through the next stage of their program development.”
First patient dosed in Phase I/IIa hemophilia A trial
ASG Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company advancing in vivo gene replacement, gene editing and allogeneic cell therapies for hematologic and other rare disorders, announced that the first patient in the company’s Phase I/IIa clinical trial has been dosed with ASC618. ASC618 is an investigational in vivo AVV-based gene therapy for patients with severe and moderately severe hemophilia A.
Shelley Crary, principal investigator of the ASC618 phase I/IIa clinical trial, stated: “Treating our first patient with ASC618 reinforces our focus on providing cutting-edge therapeutic modalities to our patients with hemophilia A. We are now assessing in a clinical setting the relevance of a novel one-and-done gene therapy that may replace lifelong, burdensome, and expensive treatments to manage hemophilia A.”
Partnership aims to enhance cell therapies for solid tumors
Phenomic AI has entered a strategic research collaboration with Astellas to enhance cell therapy approaches for the treatment of solid tumors. Together, Phemonic and Astellas will investigate antibodies that have been developed to interact with novel targets already identified by Phemonic’s proprietary single-cell transcriptomics platform, known as scTx®.
“scTx’s massive database and machine learning engine provides insights into the tumor stroma, a major barrier to cancer therapies, at a resolution not previously possible and ultimately enables Phenomic to develop therapies for the hardest to treat tumors,” commented Girish Aakalu, CEO of Phenomic. “We are excited to explore the potential of our antibodies to make cell therapies more effective for solid tumors by targeting the tumor stroma and collaborate with the Astellas team given their deep cell therapy expertise.”
