On May 21, 2024 Indapta Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company developing next-generation differentiated cell therapies for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases, reported that Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) has granted the company a competitive product development research award (Press release, Indapta Therapeutics, MAY 21, 2024, View Source [SID1234643513]). The $4.5 million grant will support Indapta’s ongoing clinical development of its lead product, IDP-023, for patients with advanced non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma.
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"We greatly appreciate that CPRIT has recognized the promise of Indapta’s allogeneic g-NK cell therapy for the treatment of advanced cancer patients," said Dr. Mark Frohlich, CEO of Indapta. "We are highly encouraged to be seeing early evidence of clinical activity in the safety run-in portion of the trial at the lowest cell dose and without the addition of a monoclonal antibody. We look forward to using the CPRIT funds to treat additional patients in order to reach clinical proof-of-concept in our Phase 1 dose escalation trial."
Patients enrolled in the Phase I clinical trial to date have received up to three planned doses of IDP-023 with or without interleukin-2. Once safety of multiple doses in combination with interleukin-2 has been established, cohorts of patients with lymphoma and multiple myeloma will receive escalating doses of IDP-023 in combination with the monoclonal antibodies, rituximab and daratumumab, respectively.
Indapta’s Differentiated g-NK Cell Therapy
Indapta’s universal, allogeneic NK cell therapy platform consists of a potent subset of naturally occurring NK cells, known as "g minus" NK cells, or "g-NK" cells. G‑NK cells arise from epigenetic changes resulting from exposure to cytomegalovirus (CMV). To generate IDP-023, Indapta preferentially expands g-NK cells from healthy donors, with low donor to donor variability. IDP-023 has several differentiated mechanisms of killing target cells without the need for genetic engineering, including highly robust antibody-dependent cell mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC), the targeting of HLA-E expressing cells via the NKG2C receptor, and the inherent anti-viral activity of g-NK cells.
Indapta’s g-NK can release dramatically more immune activating cytokines and cell-killing compounds than conventional NK cells. In preclinical studies, IDP-023 has demonstrated more potent and durable antitumor activity when combined with cancer targeting monoclonal antibodies as compared to conventional NK cells. (Bigley et al., Blood Advances 2021, View Source)
Based on evidence that endogenous g-NK cells are protective against the development of multiple sclerosis, as well as slow disease progression in patients with multiple sclerosis, Indapta plans to file an IND in Q3 to initiate a clinical trial of g-NK cells in patients with multiple sclerosis.