Research Collaboration Targets Solid Tumors with CAR-T Cells

Imugene Ltd, a clinical stage immuno-oncology company and Celularity Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing off-the-shelf placental-derived allogeneic therapies, have entered into an exclusive research collaboration. As part of the partnership, Imugene and Celularity will initially collaborate to develop the combination of Imugene’s CD19 oncolytic virus technology and Celularity’s CD19 targeting allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cellular therapy, CYCART-19, for the treatment of solid tumors. Robert J. Hariri, M.D., Ph.D., founder, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Celularity, said, “We are excited to initiate this research collaboration, which we believe will lay the foundation for a new approach to the treatment of solid tumors. Most solid tumors have variable targetable antigens, limiting CAR-T cell therapy efficacy. The treatment strategy we are targeting with Imugene has the potential to apply to a range of indications and allow cellular medicine to overcome obstacles that have prevented its use in a broad range of cancers. The Imugene approach, which leads to uniform expression of CD19 in solid tumors combined with CD19 CAR-T cells, has the potential to improve patient outcomes.”

Read more about the new partnership here.