AdAlta and Carina Biotech enter a collaboration agreement to develop i-body enabled CAR-T cancer immunotherapies against up to five solid tumour antigen targets
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MELBOURNE and ADELAIDE, Australia, Aug. 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- AdAlta Pty Ltd. (ASX:1AD) and Carina Biotech Pty Ltd have entered a collaboration agreement to develop next-generation i-body enabled CAR-T cells, with the potential to bring CAR-T cell therapy to treat a far greater range of cancers than the small number of blood cancers that has been achieved today. CAR-T cell therapy is a fast-emerging form of cancer therapy that modifies a patient’s immune system to recognise and attack cancer cells that have resisted standard treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation. AdAlta’s CEO, Dr Tim Oldham commented, “We believe that by combining our i-bodies with Carina’s world-class CAR-T platform, we can make this important new therapeutic approach accessible to more patients and a greater range of cancers than is possible today. We are well past the starting line, having worked previously on the first two targets selected for our collaboration, and with Carina on one of these.” Carina’s CEO, Dr Deborah Rathjen commented, “This collaboration with AdAlta gives us the capability to generate bi-specific CAR molecules and then next-generation CAR-T cell products with enhanced cancer targeting and efficacy – something we are very excited about. The collaboration is off to a great start with Carina having already successfully inserted an AdAlta i-body into a CAR-T cell with functional cancer killing capability.” About the collaboration The Collaboration Agreement contemplates commencing work on up to five tumour antigen targets during the next two years and will continue until completion of research on the final target. The first two targets have been selected enabling research to commence within the next three months. AdAlta’s initial contribution will leverage its established laboratory resources and is not anticipated to have a material impact on current cash runway. AdAlta and Carina will jointly own the products developed through the collaboration. On a product-by-product basis: the companies may elect to continue to co-develop any product; out-license any product to third parties; or either company may exercise an option to license the other party’s share of the collaboration assets. Dr Tim Oldham continued, “A core part of AdAlta’s strategy is to enter collaborations with partners where we can further the use of our i-bodies to address disease targets previously thought undruggable. The i-body-directed CAR-T cells will be the second example of this, complementing our collaboration with GE Healthcare where i–bodies are being used to deliver a PET imaging agent. The Carina collaboration contributes multiple potential products to our pipeline expansion goals.” AdAlta and Carina will host a Webinar to discuss the collaboration results at 2.30pm AEST Wednesday, 25 August 2021. Register here: Authorised for lodgement by: Tim Oldham About CAR-T cell therapy Chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) are human-engineered molecules expressed on the surface of a patient’s T cells – key cells of the immune system. These CAR molecules are “targeted” at molecular markers on cancer cells. T cells armed with CARs (CAR-T cells) can more easily “home in” on cancer cells and destroy them. There are already five approved CAR-T therapies available in the US today. These are generating transformational outcomes for patients with a small number of blood cancers that have failed multiple prior lines of therapy. Even with these limited early applications, the market is forecast to grow at 20.2% per year, and to be worth $20.3 billion by 2027[2] . Revenues from solid tumour CAR-T cell therapies are forecast to exceed revenues from blood cancer CAR-T cell therapies by 2030[3] . About i-bodies AdAlta’s proprietary i-bodies are approximately one tenth of the size of conventional monoclonal antibodies. They were engineered using a human protein backbone and synthetic antigen binding regions to mimic small, very stable “single domain antibodies” found in sharks. The result is a range of unique and versatile proteins capable of interacting with high selectivity, specificity and affinity with previously difficult-to-access targets in the human body that have been implicated in many serious diseases. Benefits of combining CAR-T and i-bodies About AdAlta AdAlta has completed Phase I clinical studies for its lead i-body candidate, AD-214, being developed for the treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) and other human fibrotic diseases, for which current therapies are sub-optimal and there is a high unmet medical need. The Company is also entering collaborative partnerships to advance the development of its i-body platform. For more information visit: www.adalta.com.au About Carina Biotech Carina has a deep pipeline of CAR-T programs and is progressing its lead product against a cancer stem cell antigen, LGR5, through IND-enabling activities with the aim of commencing clinical trials in patients in 2022. Carina successfully out-licensed its first CAR-T product against novel solid tumour antigen nfP2X7 to Biosceptre (UK). For more information visit: www.carinabiotech.com For more information, please contact:
SOURCE AdAlta Limited | ||||||||||||||
Company Codes: Australia:1AD |
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