On December 7, 2020 Artiva Biotherapeutics, Inc., an oncology company focused on developing and commercializing primary allogeneic natural killer (NK) cell therapies to treat cancer, reported U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowance of the company’s investigational new drug (IND) application for AB-101, an optimized and cryopreserved off-the-shelf NK cell therapy (Press release, Artiva Biotherapeutics, DEC 7, 2020, View Source [SID1234572369]). Artiva plans to conduct a Phase 1/2 clinical trial at up to 20 U.S. cancer centers to assess the safety and clinical activity of AB-101 alone and in combination with the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, rituximab, in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) who have progressed beyond two or more prior lines of therapy.
Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:
Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing
Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!
"Monoclonal antibodies are mainstays of cancer therapy, but many patients have sub-optimal responses, and those who progress have limited options," said Tom Farrell, President and CEO of Artiva. "With AB-101, we intend to leverage our proprietary off-the-shelf NK cell platform to enhance and extend the clinical application of monoclonal antibodies and other cancer targeted therapies that rely on NK cells to mediate their anti-cancer activity."
AB-101 is a cryopreserved NK cell product candidate with high and consistent expression of tumor-engaging receptors including the high-affinity variant of CD16. These NK cell attributes have demonstrated improved outcomes for cancer patients in both the transplant and therapeutic monoclonal antibody settings. Furthermore, in preclinical models, AB-101 demonstrates enhanced antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity with a variety of therapeutic antibodies.
"Allogeneic NK cells have been tested in clinical trials for more than a decade. Based on this experience, we expect that AB-101 will be well tolerated. This contrasts with T-cell therapies that are associated with life-threatening cytokine release syndrome, neurotoxicity, and graft-versus-host-disease," said Jason Litten, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Artiva.
About the Clinical Trial
After receiving standard lymphodepleting chemotherapy, patients will receive eight weekly doses of up to four billion NK cells per AB-101 dose. The primary endpoint is objective response rate, per the 2014 Lugano Criteria. In Phase 2, indolent and aggressive NHL patients will receive AB-101 plus rituximab combination therapy in two parallel Simon two-Stage designed cohorts, each with independent interim analyses for objective clinical response.
About AB-101 NK Cell Therapy
Leveraging a proprietary manufacturing platform that enables expansion and cryopreservation of cord blood-derived NK cells, Artiva is advancing AB-101 as a universal primary NK cell product candidate for use in combination with targeting therapies such as monoclonal antibodies or NK cell engagers. Starting cord blood units are selected for B-KIR haplotype and the homozygous polymorphism of CD16 that confers high affinity binding to antibodies, including monoclonal antibody therapies. Starting cells are isolated then expanded and activated utilizing a proprietary campaign-based manufacturing process in a state-of the art GMP facility. AB-101 is delivered as cryopreserved vials of one billion highly active NK cells in an infusion-ready media for thawing and administration on demand at the clinical trial site. The manufacturing process generates thousands of cryovials of AB-101 from a single cord blood unit.