ASX-listed biotech company Chimeric Therapeutics has signed a sponsored research deal with Case Western Reserve University in the United States to develop the company’s natural killer, or “NK” cell therapy portfolio to assist in its fight against cancer.
One of Chimeric’s key missions is to cure cancer, not simply slow its progress, by developing cutting-edge cell therapy treatments aimed at killing the molecules that drive cancer cells and promote metastases.
The company’s CORE NK platform aims to use off the shelf and then mass-produced cell therapy products from healthy donors, instead of the existing practice of using blood donated from the patient themselves.
The university research program will be led by Dr David Wald who developed the CORE NK technology and will work closely with Chimeric to develop a number of next-generation products through to pre-clinical development.
The next-generation developments will be based on the biotech company’s CHM 0201 off-the-shelf NK cell platform that successfully demonstrated safety and efficacy during clinical trials completed at the Seidman Cancer Centre in Ohio earlier this year.
Chimeric says the trial showed positive results and particularly in blood cancers where all patients achieved disease control. One patient achieved a complete response that was sustained through to 15 months at the time of study publication.
Chimeric Therapeutics Managing Director and CEO, Jennifer Chow said: “By building upon Dr Wald’s NK cell scientific experience and expertise we believe we will be able to advance NK cell therapies to benefit patients in multiple disease areas in the future.”
Under the research deal with Case Western Reserve University, Chimeric receives the exclusive option to licence any intellectual property created as part of the sponsored program.
The latest agreement is not the first time the company has made a deal with a major university. In February Chimeric signed a three-year sponsored research agreement with the University of Pennsylvania also in the United States to support its ongoing development of gastric and colorectal cancer fighting therapies. The company says the research will focus on further developing its cutting-edge treatments through pre-clinical studies, correlative research and cell therapy on candidates.
In August this year the cancer fighter was granted patent protection in Japan, the world’s third-largest pharmaceutical market, for some of its novel cell therapy treatments – including CHM 1101 at clinical trial stage and another at the pre-clinical stage.
The CHM 1101 treatment utilises a 36-amino acid peptide called chlorotoxin — derived from deathstalker scorpion venom —in its tumour targeting.
The company says CHM 1101 has demonstrated potent anti-tumour activity and improved survival in mice and is now undergoing a phase 1 clinical trial on recurrent and progressive glioblastoma — a rare but deadly aggressive cancer that can occur in the spinal cord or brain.
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By Matt Birney
