On February 10, 2021 GEMoaB, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of next-generation immunotherapies for hard-to-treat cancers, reported the acceptance of a presentation on translational data obtained from their ongoing Phase I study of their lead asset UniCAR-T-CD123 in relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia (rrAML) at the 2021 AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting, being held from April 9-14 (Press release, GEMoaB, FEB 10, 2021, View Source [SID1234574880]).

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The data of UniCAR-T-CD123 in rrAML provided as poster presentation at the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) congress highlight key features of GEMoaB’s rapidly switchable universal CAR-T platform UniCAR and focus on expansion kinetics, cytokine profiles and UniCAR-T persistence in heavily pre-treated rrAML patients.

"We have recently presented our initial clinical data on UniCAR-T-CD123 in rrAML, highlighting the advantages of our rapidly switchable UniCAR platform in terms of an extremely encouraging benefit/risk profile, the ability to abrogate and avoid acute and long-term side effects and the ability to re-activate UniCAR-T cells during a 2nd cycle with our soluble adapter molecule termed Targeting Module," said Dr. Armin Ehninger, Chief Scientific Officer of GEMoaB. "We are running an extensive translational program with our clinical studies to fully understand the unique mode-of-action of UniCAR and are very pleased that the data obtained are underpinning our vision of a highly active, controllable and persistent CAR-T product for multiple hematology and solid tumor indications as we enter into the next phase of our clinical development program."

Phase I studies of UniCAR-T-CD123 for the treatment of rrAML and UniCAR-T-PSMA directed against CRPC and other PSMA-expressing late-stage solid tumors are ongoing.

About the UniCAR-T-CD123 Phase IA Study

This first-in-human phase I study is an open-label, non-randomized, dose-finding study designed to evaluate the safety and activity of UniCAR-T-CD123 in up to 16 CD123 positive patients with relapsed/refractory AML. Its purpose is to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) as well as Dose limiting toxicities (DLT) of the combined application of a single dose of UniCAR-T and the continuous infusion of TM123 over 25 days. Application follows post bridging therapy and lymphodepletion. The study also investigates response rates, response duration, persistence of UniCAR-T cells over time as well as the ability to rapidly switch UniCAR-T cells on and off in case of side effects through stopping TM infusion. The study takes place at selected Phase I, Acute Leukemia and CAR-T experienced University centers in Germany. The study is supported by a grant from the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (project "TurbiCAR"). To learn more about the trial, please visit clinicaltrials.gov.

About UniCAR

GEMoaB is developing a rapidly switchable universal CAR-T platform, UniCAR, to improve the therapeutic window and increase efficacy and safety of CAR-T cell therapies in challenging cancers, including acute leukemias and solid tumors. Conventional CAR-T cells depend on the presence and direct binding of cancer antigens for activation and proliferation. An inherent key feature of the UniCAR platform is a rapidly switchable on/off mechanism (less than 4 hours after interruption of TM supply) enabled by the short pharmacokinetic half-life and fast internalization of soluble adaptors termed TMs. These TMs provide the antigen-specificity to activate UniCAR gene-modified T-cells (UniCAR-T) and consist of a highly flexible antigen-binding moiety, linked to a small peptide motif recognized by UniCAR-T.