New generation car cell therapy! Takeda and MD Anderson have reached a strategic cooperation to develop ready to use car NK cell therapy from cord blood!

November 7, 2019 / Biovalley BIOON / -- Takeda, a Japanese pharmaceutical giant, and MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas recently announced that they have reached an exclusive license agreement and research agreement to develop chimeric antigen receptor-directed natural killer (car NK) cell therapy derived from cord blood, armed with IL-15, for the treatment of B-cell malignant tumors And other cancers According to the agreement, Takeda will obtain the right to use the car NK platform of MD Anderson Cancer Center, as well as the exclusive right to develop and commercialize up to four projects, including a CD19 targeted car NK cell therapy and a BCMA targeted car NK cell therapy The two sides will also carry out research cooperation to further develop these car NK projects Among them, the key research of CD19 car NK cell therapy will be launched in 2021 Takeda will be responsible for the development, manufacturing and commercialization of car NK products in this agreement, MD Anderson will receive an advance payment and be eligible for the development and commercialization milestone payment of each target, as well as the layered royalty based on the net sales of any car NK products A new method of car NK cell therapy (picture source: doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2015.00264) that provides ready-made (ready to use) car in outpatient department MD Anderson's allogeneic car NK platform separates NK cells from cord blood and carries out engineering treatment to make it be able to target specific cancer targets Car NK cells are modified with retroviral vectors to deliver genes and enhance their effectiveness in attacking specific tumors CD19 car increased the specificity of B cell malignant tumor, while IL-15 enhanced the proliferation and survival of car NK cells in vivo Unlike car-t cell therapy, which currently uses patients' own genetically modified T cells and requires a multi week manufacturing process, car NK cells are designed to be manufactured and stored from unrelated donor sources for off the shelf use, so that treatment can be delivered faster CD19 car NK is expected to be administered in the outpatient setting In an ongoing phase I / IIa clinical study, CD19 car NK cell therapy was not associated with severe cytokine release syndrome (CRS) or neurotoxicity observed in existing car-t therapy in patients with recurrent and refractory B-cell malignancies MD Anderson's car NK platform development was led by Dr rezvani and further supported by the adoptive cell therapy platforms, moon shot ® for chronic lymphocytic leukemia and moon shot ® for B-cell lymphoma, which are part of the moon shots program The moon shots program ® is a collaborative effort to rapidly develop scientific findings into meaningful clinical advances that save lives Takeda: accelerate the development of multiple next generation car platforms in addition to car NK cell therapy, Takeda and its partners are studying various methods to improve the safety, effectiveness and accessibility of the first generation car-t cell therapy, including γ δ car-t, induced pluripotent stem cell-derived car-t, car-t targeting solid tumors, and other next-generation therapies Takeda plans to promote clinical use of five cancer cell therapies by the end of fy2020 These platforms are being developed with partners and leverage Takeda's expertise in transforming cell therapy engines to overcome many manufacturing challenges Original source: Takeda and MD Anderson announcement collaboration to accelerate the development of clinical stage, off the shelf car NK cell therapy platform