"Off-the-shelf" cell therapy shows promise for cancers resistant to current treatments, including immunotherapies
Sponsored and provided by MiNK Therapeutics
For decades, researchers have faced many hurdles developing novel therapies that might benefit patients with treatment-resistant solid cancers. But new research shows promise for a new era of cell therapy designed to benefit patients with some of the most difficult-to-treat cancers, including gastric, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and testicular cancers.
MiNK Therapeutics, a pioneer in allogeneic cell therapy, recently presented data showing clinical benefit of its invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cell therapy, both alone and in combination with treatments that target PD-1 checkpoint proteins, at the recent Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in Orlando, Florida. The Phase 1 study showed that a single infusion of agenT-797 (iNKT) in combination with anti-PD-1 therapy promoted durable responses in patients with refractory gastric, NSCLC and testicular cancers who have had no response to approved therapies or anti-PD-1 [1]. Findings included a partial response and tumor reduction of more than 42% in a patient with treatment-resistant metastatic gastric cancer who continued to respond to agenT-797 at 9 months [1]. In addition, disease stabilization (stabilization of measurable disease for at least eight weeks) and biomarker responses were observed in a range of patients whose tumors had been resistant or refractory to available anti-PD-1 treatments [1].
In response to these early positive signals, MiNK Therapeutics will expand this study further. The expansion will be carried out in parallel with the launch of a clinical trial of agenT-797 in combination with standard of care plus immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with metastatic or refractory gastric cancers. The trial will be led by Dr. Yelena Janjigian, Chief of Gastrointestinal Cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering.
"These clinical signals suggest that agenT-797 is well tolerated and can address disease in heavily pretreated patients who have not responded to available treatments, including anti-PD-1 therapy," says MiNK President and Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Buell, PhD "These data underscore the promise of our novel allogeneic treatments to overcome the logistical, access, and clinical efficacy challenges associated with currently available autologous cell therapies and potentially benefit patients who have exhausted all options."
Benedito Carneiro, M.D., Director of the Cancer Drug Development Program (Phase I) and Clinical Research at the Lifespan Cancer Institute, Associate Director of the Division of Hematology/Oncology, and Co-Leader of the Therapeutics Program at the Legorreta Cancer Center at Brown University adds, "We are encouraged by signals of efficacy in patients with advanced cancers, heavily pre-treated with a median of four prior lines of therapy and had been unresponsive anti-PD-1 therapy. In addition, agenT-797 was very well tolerated and administered without toxic preconditioning lymphodepletion, or chemotherapy frequently used with allogeneic cell therapies. In addition, agenT-797 promoted activation of immune cells present in the tumor microenvironment and generated anti-cancer activity as demonstrated by decreased size of tumor on scans." [2]
Currently, available cell therapies are autologous CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) T-cell therapies, in which cells are taken from a patient and returned to that patient in a labor-intensive, costly process. To overcome these obstacles, MiNK's iNKT cell products are designed, for scalable "off-the-shelf" use. MiNK has established and launched in-house iNKT cell manufacturing to supply more than 5,000 doses per year through a fully closed, and automatic process.
Says Buell, "MiNK's unique approach to drug design combines the tumor-killing features of natural killer (NK) cells with the durable memory response of T cells to deliver a range of immune responses to cancer and other immune-mediated diseases".
"MiNK is dedicated to pioneering a new era in which novel cellular based therapies, like iNKTs, have the potential to benefit patients with cancer who have exhausted all other options."
[1] Carneiro et al. American Association for Cancer Research. 2023. https://minktherapeutics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AACR-04-8-2023-MiNK-Therapeutics-Presentation-V2.pdf
[2] H.C Wainwright & CO KOL Series with MiNK Therapeutics. https://journey.ct.events/view/795f09fc-110a-4124-8c79-66da149e66b3