Prescient has entered a deal with the manufacturing arm of the world-renowned QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane to advance clinical trials of its OmniCAR cell lines.
Clinical stage oncology company Prescient Therapeutics (ASX:PTX) has entered a manufacturing services deal with specialist cell therapy manufacturer, Q-Gen Cell Therapeutics (Q-Gen), to produce its OmniCAR cell lines for upcoming clinical trials.
As Prescient advances development of its next-generation OmniCAR programs for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), Her2 positive solid cancers and glioblastoma multiforme, the encouraging progress of the OmniCAR AML program makes it likely be the first OmniCAR program to enter clinical studies.
PTX said manufacturing will take place at Q-Gen’s dedicated Brisbane facility, which produces autologous and allogeneic cell therapies for local and international pharmaceutical companies and academic research groups.
Q-Gen is the cell therapy manufacturing arm of the world-renowned QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute and is one of Australia’s leading producers of cell-based medicines.
Prescient has started the technology transfer process for OmniCAR-T cell manufacturing.
OmniCAR-T advances game-changing therapy
CAR-T therapies is considered a game-changing therapy giving hope to cancer patients. The therapy involves isolating T cells from a cancer patient’s blood. The T cells are changed in a lab by adding a gene for a receptor (known as a chimeric antigen receptor or CAR), aiding the T cells to attach to a specific cancer cell antigen. The CAR T cells are then transferred back to the patient.
OmniCAR-T cells go a step further and will express a universal immune receptor known as SpyCatcher, which can bind with any separate SpyTagged targeting ligand.
The process means OmniCAR cells can potentially address any cancer by incorporating binders to any cancer antigen. The modularity also enables other important and novel characteristics to overcome limitations faced by conventional CAR-T therapy.
Agreement crucial step to human trials
The agreement with Q-Gen covers production and delivery of autologous OmniCAR-T cells for clinical trials.
Prescient’s CEO and Managing Director Steven Yatomi-Clarke said Prescient was working steadily towards its first in human studies of OmniCAR, which will be an important milestone.
“This important agreement secures Prescient’s crucial supply of OmniCAR cells for our clinical trials and ensures we are producing the best possible cell therapy products for doctors and patients living with hard-to-treat cancers,” he said.
In January Prescient received accreditation by the Office of the Gene Regulator enabling the company to conduct clinical trials in Australia involving gene-edited cells such as OmniCAR.
The manufacturing deal is further good news for Prescient after the US FDA granted an Orphan Drug Designation to its cancer drug PTX-100, for the treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCL).
Prescient’s PTX-100 is a first-in-class prenylation inhibitor that disrupts oncogenic Ras pathways in cancer cells.
Join a briefing
Join Prescient CEO and MD Steven Yatomi-Clarke for an investor briefing on Tuesday 23rd August at 12pm (AEST) where he will discuss this announcement in more detail. Click here to register.
This article was developed in collaboration with Prescient, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.