Prescient Completes CAR-T Manufacturing Milestone for Next Generation Immunotherapy Platform
KEY POINTS: • Prescient has incorporated SpyTag into a range of binders for its three next generation CAR-T programs • Prescient has also received delivery of lentiviral vectors that will be used to produce CAR-T cells expressing SpyCatcher • The SpyTag binders and CAR-T cell expressing SpyCatcher are the novel components for Prescient’s unique next generation OmniCAR platform
MELBOURNE Australia 24 June 2021: Prescient Therapeutics Limited (ASX: PTX) (“Prescient”), a clinical stage oncology company developing personalised medicine approaches to cancer, today announced the successful completion of the manufacturing and delivery of crucial components of the OmniCAR platform for Prescient’s in-house programs of next-generation CAR-T therapies.
A range of binders against a variety of cancer targets, including CLL-1; CD33; Her2 and EGFRviii, have been manufactured by a leading US antibody manufacturer. All binders have incorporated SpyTag, which is required for covalent binding to immune cells (such as T-cells) in the OmniCAR system.
Additionally, Prescient has also received delivery of lentiviral vectors that will be used to produce CAR-T cells expressing SpyCatcher. Lentiviral vectors are a rate-limiting step in CAR-T production. Together the SpyTagged binders and CAR-T cells expressing SpyCatcher form the basis for the unique, modular OmniCAR platform.
The binders and lentiviral vectors have been delivered to the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Peter Mac) in Melbourne for construct testing and in vitro and in vivo development.
Prescient’s CEO and Managing Director, Steven Yatomi-Clarke said, "Demonstrating that novel components can be manufactured is a crucial milestone in the development of an innovative next-generation CAR platform like OmniCAR. Successfully producing binders for CLL-1; CD33; Her2 and EGFRviii will enable our research team to produce CAR-T cells for our three in-house programs. We are also pleased to have timely delivery of lentiviral vectors, which is rate-limiting in manufacturing CAR-Ts and have proven to be a bottleneck for many developers.”
“Prescient’s research team at the Peter Mac has completed all the preparatory work in parallel, and the delivery of the binders and vectors now enables the team to progress the development of our in-house next-generation cell therapies.”
Prescient is developing OmniCAR programs for acute myeloid leukemia; Her2+ solid tumours, including breast, ovarian and gastric cancers; and glioblastoma multiforme (the most common form of brain cancer). In addition, Prescient has developed OmniCAR as a platform, allowing collaborations and partnerships under licence with third parties wishing to incorporate OmniCAR to enhance their respective cell therapies.
The OmniCAR platform is based on technologies developed at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Oxford. Prescient has the worldwide license to commercialise the technologies. Investor Briefing:
Prescient Therapeutics will host a briefing for shareholders and investors to discuss progress with the OmniCAR research programs and Peter Mac partnership with Professor Phil Darcy from Peter Mac; Prescient’s Director of Scientific Affairs, Dr Rebecca Lim; and Prescient CEO Steven Yatomi-Clarke.
Date: Thursday, 1 July Time: 11am AEST Click here to register: https://prescienttherapeutics.investorportal.com.au/investor-briefing/
PTX Price at posting:
22.5¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
