On May 1, 2019 MaxCyte, the global clinical-stage cell-based therapies and life sciences company, reported that Robert Keefe, Director of Technical Operations, provided an oral presentation on April 29, titled "Novel mRNA-based Autologous CAR Therapies in Oncology," at the annual meeting of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) (Free ASGCT Whitepaper) in Washington, DC (Press release, MaxCyte, MAY 1, 2019, View Source [SID1234537622]).
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Dr. Keefe highlighted the CARMA platform’s key differentiating features, including manufacture and delivery to a patient in a fraction of the time compared to traditional chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapies and without a viral component. He also described the manufacturing feasibility data for MaxCyte’s first CARMA drug candidate, MCY-M11, a mesothelin-targeting chimeric antigen receptor (CAR), which is currently being evaluated in a Phase I clinical trial in mesothelin-expressing solid tumors at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and Washington University in St Louis.
"The advancement of our first CARMA clinical trial, which is consistently showing the feasibility of our rapid manufacturing process, is significant for MaxCyte and the application of our technology," said Claudio Dansky Ullmann, MD, MaxCyte’s Chief Medical Officer. "Development of a cell therapy with application in solid tumors is impactful for patients with unmet needs in a variety of cancers and we look forward to further advancing this program."
The CARMA platform offers an innovative approach to cell-based therapies that can be applied in a broad range of diseases, including solid tumors. The manufacturing process for MCY-M11 utilizes MaxCyte’s proprietary Flow Electroporation technology to transfect mRNA into fresh (i.e., unexpanded) peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). The entire CARMA manufacturing process allows for streamlined manufacturing providing a much needed faster turnaround of autologous cell therapy to patients. CARMA cell therapy was engineered with the intention of reducing potential adverse events that have been evident with other CAR technologies, and allowing for multiple dosing, a feature that may be key in the treatment of solid tumors with cellular therapies.
Last month, this trial was featured as a "trial in progress" at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting , via a poster highlighting key aspects of the study design.