{"id":33061,"date":"2018-04-03T16:44:05","date_gmt":"2018-04-03T20:44:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencebusiness.technewslit.com\/?p=33061"},"modified":"2018-04-04T12:50:22","modified_gmt":"2018-04-04T16:50:22","slug":"new-company-acquires-off-the-shelf-t-cell-cancer-therapies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/?p=33061","title":{"rendered":"New Company Acquires Off-the-Shelf T-Cell Cancer Therapies"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Human<\/a>
Scanning electron micrograph of a healthy human T-cell (NIH.gov)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

3 April 2018. A new enterprise is formed to develop treatments for cancer using donated T-cells from the immune system, rather than the patient’s own T-cells, engineered to attack cancer cells. The company, Allogene Therapeutics Inc.<\/a> in South San Francisco, California is founded by former executives with engineered T-cell therapy pioneer Kite Pharma, and acquiring programs in development from the biopharmaceutical company Cellectis S.A.<\/a> and drug maker Pfizer Inc.<\/a><\/p>\n

Allogene Therapeutics is continuing work on gene therapy programs for treating cancer started by Cellectis. Those treatments genetically engineer T-cells from the immune system, by adding\u00a0chimeric antigen receptors<\/a>, proteins attracting antibodies that bind to and destroy blood-related and solid tumor cancer cells. In 2014, Pfizer and Cellectis agreed to collaborate on their development.<\/p>\n

Current methods producing chimeric antigen receptor T-cells, known as CAR T-cells, produce promising results in patients with leukemia and other blood-related cancers. Most of the current methods, however, genetically engineer a patient\u2019s own T-cells, then re-infuse the altered T-cells back into the individual. Cellectis\u2019s and now Allogene’s process is designed to produce off-the-shelf CAR T-cell treatments, Cellectis calls\u00a0Universal CAR T-cells<\/a>, or UCARTs. These treatments use T-cells from healthy donors, rather than a patient\u2019s own T-cells, then genetically engineered to match the attributes of specific cancer types.<\/p>\n

As reported by Science & Enterprise in February, Cellectis received patents<\/a> on its genetic modification processes for CAR T-cells using genome editing techniques. But also as we reported, Cellectis ran into setbacks when two clinical trials were stopped<\/a> by FDA in September 2017 after some patients developed serious adverse effects, including a death. The death was caused by cytokine-release syndrome<\/a>, a complex of immune-system reactions to immunotherapies that worsened with complications, and who later did not respond to treatment. FDA\u00a0lifted the clinical hold<\/a>\u00a0in November 2017, allowing the trials to continue.<\/p>\n

The agreement calls for Allogene to acquire Cellectis’s and Pfizer’s therapy, code-named UCART19\u00a0 and now in clinical trials, using donated, engineered CAR T-cells to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia. In addition, Allogene is receiving 16 programs still in preclinical stages. Cellectis will still be eligible for milestone payments of up to $185 million per each target, totaling as much as $2.8 billion, as well as royalties on sales of Allogene products developed from these programs.<\/p>\n

Allogene Therapeutics is founded by former executives of Kite Pharma, a company that helped pioneer CAR T-cell treatments for cancer using a patient’s own T-cells. In August 2017, Kite Pharma was acquired for nearly $12 billion<\/a> by biopharmaceutical maker Gilead Sciences. Arie Belldegrun, Allogene’s executive chairman, was Kite Pharma’s president and CEO, while David Chang, formerly Kite’s R&D and chief medical officer, is now Allogene’s president and CEO.<\/p>\n

Allogene is initially financed by $300 million in its first venture funding round led by by Two River<\/a>, a life science venture investment company in New York, and Vida Ventures<\/a>, also a life science investment enterprise in Boston. Also taking part are Pfizer, BellCo Capital, and University of California. Pfizer will have a 25 percent stake in Allogene, and will continue to hold 8 percent of Cellectis. In addition, Belldegrun is a co-founder of Vida Ventures<\/a>, while Chang is a venture partner of the company.<\/p>\n

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