On November 6, 2014 MacroGenics reported that pre-clinical data on MGD011, a humanized CD19 x CD3 Dual-Affinity Re-Targeting (DART) protein, will be highlighted in a poster presentation at the 56th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) (Free ASH Whitepaper), to be held December 6-9, 2014 in San Francisco, CA (Press release MacroGenics, NOV 6, 2014, View Source [SID:1234501246]).
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MGD011 is designed to redirect T-cells to eliminate CD19-expressing cells found in many hematological malignancies and has been engineered to address half-life challenges posed by other programs targeting CD19 and CD3. Moreover, MGD011 and other DART molecules are manufactured using a conventional antibody platform without the complexity of having to genetically modify T cells from individual patients as required by approaches such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells. MGD011 has a modified Fc domain, which allows for extended pharmacokinetic properties and convenient dosing at a once-a-week or longer interval. It is one of two new oncology-based DART candidates for which MacroGenics intends to initiate clinical studies in 2015.
"This represents another important milestone for our DART platform," said Scott Koenig, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO of MacroGenics. "CD19-targeted therapies have generated much excitement, and, based on our pre-clinical data, we believe that MGD011 has great potential in the treatment of patients with certain types of hematological malignancies. We look forward to initiating clinical development in 2015."