Cell therapy weekly: first patient receives novel TCR-modified T-cell therapy for pancreatic cancer
This week: The first patient has been dosed with the first non-viral gene-edited T-cell therapy to be evaluated in Europe, Syntax Bio (IL, USA) and Mayo Clinic (MN, USA) have announced a collaboration to advance cell therapies for type 1 diabetes, and Laverock Therapeutics (London, UK) has announced in vivo functional milestones in its T cell and macrophage programs for solid tumor indications.
The news highlights:
First patient receives novel TCR-modified T-cell therapy for pancreatic cancer
The first patient has been dosed with ANOC-001, Anocca AB’s (Södertälje, Sweden) novel TCR-modified T-cell therapy. ANOC-001 is the first non-viral gene-edited T-cell therapy to be evaluated in Europe, and it targets KRAS G12V mutations in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer.
Reagan Jarvis, co-founder and CEO of Anocca, said: “The dosing of patients marks an important milestone for Anocca, and demonstrates our ability to develop, manufacture and clinically deploy precision TCR-T cell therapy products. The novel ANOC-001 clinical candidate was developed with Anocca’s proprietary analytical platform that maps targets and identifies, characterizes and engineers T-cell receptors. We are grateful to our team, investors and partners whose efforts and participation made this milestone possible.”
Collaboration to advance cell therapy for type 1 diabetes
Syntax Bio and Mayo Clinic have entered into a research and development collaboration to develop an allogeneic pancreatic beta cell therapy to treat type 1 diabetes. Syntac Bio will use its proprietary Cellgorithm™ platform to guide induced pluripotent stem cells into beta cells and Mayo Clinic will provide expertise to support regulatory-enabling studies and early clinical development.
Syntax Bio’s CEO John Craighead said: “The collaboration reflects our belief that regenerative medicine must start with precise control over cell identity and function. By combining our Cellgorithm platform with Mayo Clinic’s translational and clinical expertise, we aim to accelerate the development of a next-generation cell therapy with transformative real-world benefits for patients with type 1 diabetes.”
Progress in programmable T-cell and macrophage therapies for solid tumors
Laverock Therapeutics has announced in vivo functional milestones in its T cell and macrophage programs for solid tumor indications. The company’s platform technology enables programmable, tunable and simultaneous control over multiple genetic targets, and can control both endogenous and transgenically expressed targets.
Laverock’s T-cell therapy LVK201 demonstrated enhanced tumor suppression in ovarian cancer models by simultaneously targeting multiple immunomodulatory pathways while maintaining safety through activation-responsive mechanisms. The macrophage program (LVK301) successfully controlled tumor growth and transformed immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments into immune-active states.
David Venables, Laverock Therapeutics’ CEO, said: “These key data points from our oncology programs highlight the capabilities and strength of our platform technology, and provide a clear route to lead program selection and progression into non-clinical studies. Solid tumors remain an area of huge unmet need for cancer patients, and we look forward to moving our differentiated therapies towards the clinic.”