Cancer cell therapy research is moving towards ready-made products that overcome some of the logistical challenges brought about by the timely manufacture and administration of these complex biological therapies. Adicet Bio is using a different type of immune cell, which it says is more suitable for this task, and See early In the first clinical trial of its main drug candidate, it showed promise to solve cancer cell B cells.
Adicet reported on Monday that of the four patients as of November 22, three patients responded to ADI-001 treatment. Two of the patients achieved complete remission. Clinical trial researchers describe this part of the response as “nearly complete response.” These early data are a small sample from the first phase of the dose escalation study, but the results so far indicate that Adicet’s method is feasible. Investors reacted to the results, pushing the biotech company’s share price to $13.65 on Monday, which is nearly 40% higher than Friday’s closing price.
Boston-based Adicet’s cell therapy approach starts with gamma delta T cells, which is in stark contrast to most cell therapy areas that use alpha beta T cells. Gamma delta T cells account for a much smaller proportion of T cells in the circulation, but Adicet believes that these cells have the ability to last longer after initial treatment. In addition, these cells not only have the ability to recognize and kill circulating tumor cells, but they can also infiltrate and kill solid tumors-this ability is unmatched by autologous CAR-T therapy, which is the first generation of cancer cells Therapy, by the patient’s own T cells. In addition to better anti-tumor activity, Adicet also stated that gamma-delta cell therapy may have safety advantages.
Adicet’s gamma delta T cells are derived from the blood of healthy donors. These cells are designed to have chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) that target specific proteins, and T cell receptor-like antibodies that provide another targeting mechanism. ADI-001 is designed to target the CD20 protein on the surface of cancer cell B cells. After propagating these cells using a proprietary process, they are stored until the patient needs to be treated. According to Adicet, a batch of off-the-shelf products can treat up to 1,000 patients.
Although Adicet claims that its method can be used to treat solid tumors, the company’s first disease target is blood cancer: B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The therapy is currently in an open-label phase 1 study that enrolled adults with B-cell cancer who have relapsed or who have not responded to at least two early treatments. The target recruitment is 75 patients.
in a Investor introductionAdicet said that the patient who achieved complete remission at the first dose level was a 75-year-old man with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who did not respond to five early treatments (including CAR-T therapy). The second complete remission occurred in a 62-year-old man with mantle cell lymphoma who did not respond to the first five treatments. Adicet reports that ADI-001 cells proliferate and multiply in these patients. An increase in the signal protein that triggers the immune response was also observed, which is another sign of anti-tumor activity.
In the results so far, the patients have tolerated Adicet cell therapy well. There are no signs of graft-versus-host disease, neurotoxicity, or cytokine release syndrome—all of which are risks for CAR-T therapy. Adicet expects that its next clinical update will take place in the first half of 2022.
Adicet’s competitors in the search for off-the-shelf cancer cell therapies include Allogene Therapeutics, which has started multiple trials to test cell therapies with T cells from healthy donors. In October, after “Chromosomal abnormality” was reported in a patient in a phase 1 study, FDA clinically shelved In all clinical trials of Allogene. Other companies developing allogeneic cancer cell therapies include Atara Biotherapeutics, Cellectis, Fate Therapeutics, and Gilead Sciences.
Public domain images courtesy of National Cancer Institute
