Cell therapy weekly: Promising immunotherapy data for small cell lung cancer
This week: ImmunityBio (CA, USA) announces positive data for novel natural killer-based immunotherapy, bit.bio’s (Cambridge, UK) new cell therapy pipeline will target liver diseases and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CA, USA) has formed a partnership with Avid Bioservices (CA, USA).
The news highlights:
- ImmunityBio reveals promising data for its autologous immunotherapy for small cell lung cancers
- bit.bio launches cell therapy pipeline, announces lead candidate for acute liver diseases and expands scientific advisory board
- The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has expanded CDMO support for cell and gene therapy programs with the onboarding of Avid Bioservices
ImmunityBio reveals promising data for its autologous immunotherapy for small cell lung cancers
The clinical-stage immunotherapy company, ImmunityBio, has announced new data that reveals the company’s memory cytokine-enriched natural killer cells (M-ceNK) demonstrate considerable cytotoxicity to several models of small cell lung cancer and other neuroendocrine cancers. It particularly gives hope for treating patients who do not respond to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy.
“These results are further evidence of the potential of M-ceNK therapy as a new immunotherapy approach for treating cancers that do not respond to immune checkpoint blockade, the current standard of care,” added Patrick Soon-Shiong, Executive Chairman and Global Chief Scientific and Medical Officer. “We are encouraged by the data coming out of this study and we look forward to assessing the potential for M-ceNK therapy in other tumor types.”
bit.bio launches cell therapy pipeline, announces lead candidate for acute liver diseases and expands scientific advisory board
bit.bio (Cambridge, UK), a synthetic biology company focused on advancing medicine and curative treatments, has announced its new cell therapy pipeline and declared its lead cell therapy candidate called bbHEP01, which will enter clinical development in 2025. The cell therapy consists of encapsulated allogeneic induced hepatocyte-like cells (txHepactocytes) that are designed for patients with acute liver failure or acute-on-chronic liver failure. To realize this goal, bit.bio has added three new members to their scientific advisory board (SAB): Anil Dhawan, Katy Rezvani and Loïc Vincent.
“bit.bio’s mission is to democratise access to cell therapies. Our growing portfolio of therapeutic bit.bio txCells™ will enable a broad pipeline of regenerative and immune cell therapies, which we will develop either independently or in collaboration with external partners. I’m excited to welcome Drs. Katy Rezvani, Anil Dhawan and Loïc Vincent to our SAB. Drawing on the combined expertise of our expanded SAB, we will proceed rapidly and thoughtfully, taking a risk-based approach. We will focus on areas of high unmet medical need where clinical risk has been mitigated by prior clinical studies. Our lead development candidate in acute liver failure exemplifies this approach,” stated Mark Kotter, CEO at bit.bio.
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has expanded CDMO support for cell and gene therapy programs with the onboarding of Avid Bioservices
Avid Bioservices has become the latest contract development manufacturing organization onboarded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). This will see Avid Biosciences provide CIRM-funded programs with AAV and other cell and gene therapy manufacturing support, ranging from process and analytical development to fill and finish activities.
“CIRM was established with a mission to provide treatments to patients with unmet medical needs through the promise of cell and gene therapy. As a proud California-based company, Avid Bioservices is excited to be collaborating with CIRM to help fulfill this vision through our strong development capabilities, established quality systems and proven commercial manufacturing experience in support of delivering these treatments to patients in need,” said Drew Brennan, general manager of viral technologies at Avid Bioservices.
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