On November 4, 2021 Athenex, Inc., (NASDAQ: ATNX), a global biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapies for the treatment of cancer and related conditions, announced today data from the ANCHOR Phase 1 study of KUR-502 to be highlighted in a poster presentation at the 63rd American Society of Hematology (ASH) (Free ASH Whitepaper) Annual Meeting and Exposition, being held from December 11th to December 14th, 2021 (Press release, Athenex, NOV 4, 2021, View Source [SID1234594378]). The data demonstrates that allogeneic CD19 CAR-NKT cells are well-tolerated and can mediate objective responses in B-cell relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients even at the low doses tested.
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"The early safety and clinical activity data are very encouraging," said Carlos Ramos, M.D., Professor at the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital and Houston Methodist Hospital and Principal Investigator. "The availability of a safe and effective off-the-shelf product would be a major advance in the care of these patients, and we are looking forward to treating additional patients at higher dose levels to further evaluate KUR-502."
Dan Lang, M.D., President, Athenex Cell Therapy, Vice President, Corporate Development and Communication commented, "We are excited about these early promising results from our first-in-human allogeneic study of CD19 CAR NKT cells in heavily pre-treated patients, including two patients who had previously failed autologous CAR-T therapies. We are encouraged that we have been able to demonstrate homing of allogeneic CAR-NKT cells to tumor, which is a differentiating feature of this platform. We look forward to accelerating clinical enrollment by bringing on additional clinical sites to the current study to generate more data, and further characterize the unique features and benefits of NKT cells over other cell therapy products based on T cells and NK cells."
Allogeneic NKT Cells Expressing a CD19-specific CAR in Patients with Relapsed or Refractory B-cell Malignancies: An Interim Analysis
The primary and secondary objectives of the phase I dose-escalation trial are to assess safety and anti-tumor activity of allogeneic NKT cells engineered to co-express a CD19-specific CAR, IL-15, and shRNAs targeting HLA class I and II molecules. Patients received a single infusion of 107 (DL 1) or 3×107 (DL 2) allogeneic CAR-NKT cells per square meter of body surface area following lymphodepleting conditioning with cyclophosphamide/fludarabine.
Four patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL, cohort A) were enrolled on DL 1 (NHL-1, -2, -3) and DL 2 (NHL-4), and 1 patient with relapsed acute B-lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL, cohort B) was enrolled on DL 1 (ALL-1). Allogeneic CAR-NKT cells were manufactured from the leukapheresis product of one HLA-unmatched healthy individual and cryopreserved.
The most common adverse effects observed were nausea and grade 3-4 hematologic toxicities related to the lymphodepletion chemotherapy. There were no early adverse events attributable to the cellular product except grade 1 cytokine release syndrome in one patient.
Of the 4 NHL patients, 2 had a partial response (NHL-1, -and -4) and 1 had a CR (NHL-2). The ALL patient achieved a CRi and showed no evidence of leukemia by morphology, flow cytometry, or next-generation sequencing at 4 weeks.
In vivo expansion of donor-derived NKT and CAR-NKT cells was detected in the peripheral blood of NHL-4 and ALL-1 that peaked at 1 week post-infusion in both cases as determined by flow cytometry and qPCR. While CAR-NKT cells were not detected in the peripheral blood of the first three NHL patients beyond three hours post-infusion, they were found in tumor tissues collected from the two biopsied NHL patients at up to 5 weeks post infusion. In patient NHL-2, a 2000-fold expansion of recipient NKTs with a skewed T cell receptor repertoire was also observed; this population peaked at 6 weeks post-treatment and remain elevated through 12 weeks.
About the Phase I Study of KUR-502 (Allogeneic CD19 CAR-NKT Cells) in Patients with Relapsed or Refractory B-Cell Malignancies (ANCHOR)
The phase I study is an open-label, dose-escalation study. NKT cells were isolated from the leukapheresis product of one HLA-unmatched healthy individual, transduced with the CAR, expanded ex vivo for 14 days (99.8% NKT purity), and cryopreserved. Patients received 107 (DL 1) or 3×107 (DL 2) CAR-NKT cells per square meter of body surface area following lymphodepleting conditioning with cyclophosphamide/fludarabine. Adverse events were evaluated per NCI criteria. When accessible, patients underwent core biopsies of an involved site at 2-5 weeks post-infusion. Response to therapy was assessed at 4 weeks per Lugano Criteria (for NHL) or NCCN guidelines (for ALL).
For further information about the study, visit ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT03774654.