Goal is to report initial SC291 clinical data this year
Goal is to submit a second IND from the platform this year for SC262, a hypoimmune-modified CD22-targeted allogeneic CAR T therapy
Sana Biotechnology, Inc, a company focused on creating and delivering engineered cells as medicines, has announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the company’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application to initiate a first-in-human study of SC291 in patients with various B-cell malignancies.
SC291 is a CD19-targeted allogeneic CAR T cell therapy developed using Sana’s hypoimmune platform. The goal of the hypoimmune platform is to overcome the immunologic rejection of allogeneic cells, which if true for SC291 may result in longer CAR T cell persistence and a higher rate of durable complete responses for patients with B-cell lymphomas or leukemias. The hypoimmune platform includes disruption of major histocompatibility (MHC) class I and MHC class II expression to hide cells from the adaptive immune system, which includes antibody and T cell responses, as well as overexpression of CD47 to inhibit activation of the innate immune cell system, in particular macrophages and natural killer (NK) cells. The company has presented data across multiple preclinical models highlighting the potential of this platform to cloak cells from immune recognition and the potential of SC291 as a therapeutic for patients with B-cell malignancies.
“The clearance of our SC291 IND is an important milestone, putting us closer to our goal of making an important medicine for patients with B-cell lymphomas and leukemias,” said Steve Harr, Sana’s President and CEO. “We look forward to understanding the safety, potency, and persistence of these cells in patients, and we are optimistic that SC291 can become an important medicine for patients with these difficult cancers. Furthermore, this platform forms the backbone for additional development of CAR T cells targeting CD22, BCMA, and beyond. We expect initial clinical data from the SC291 study later this year and believe insights from this study will better inform our opportunities across the broader platform, both for CAR T cells and for programs outside of cancer such as our pancreatic islet cell therapy for patients with type 1 diabetes.”
About Hypoimmune Platform
Sana’s hypoimmune platform is designed to create cells ex vivo that can “hide” from the patient’s immune system to enable the transplant of allogeneic cells without the need for immunosuppression. We are applying the hypoimmune technology to both donor-derived allogeneic T cells, with the goal of making potent and persistent CAR T cells at scale, and pluripotent stem cells, which can then be differentiated into multiple cell types at scale. Preclinical data demonstrate across a variety of cell types that these transplanted allogeneic cells are able to evade both the innate and adaptive arms of the immune system while retaining their activity. Our most advanced programs utilizing this platform include an allogeneic CAR T program targeting CD19+ cancers, an allogeneic CAR T program targeting CD22+ cancers, an allogeneic CAR T program targeting BCMA+ cancers, and stem-cell derived beta islet cells for patients with type 1 diabetes.
Source – GlobeNewswire
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