On January 24, 2020 Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLCM), a leader in developing novel, controllable cellular immunotherapies for cancers, reported new Phase 1 translational results for BPX-601 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium (ASCO GI) in San Francisco (Press release, Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, JAN 24, 2020, View Source [SID1234553536]). The poster titled "Tumor Infiltration and Cytokine Biomarkers of Prostate Stem Cell Antigen (PSCA)-Directed GoCAR-T Cells in Patients with Advanced Pancreatic Tumors" presented new data from a cohort treated with BPX-601 and a single dose of rimiducid that showed immunomodulation in both the periphery and tumor microenvironment and provided additional insights into surrogate biomarkers of iMC-mediated GoCAR-T activity.
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!
"These translational results further support the potential for BPX-601 and for our GoCAR platform in solid tumors," stated Rick Fair, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bellicum Pharmaceuticals. "We are particularly encouraged by the findings of tumor infiltration and GoCAR-T mediated immunomodulation. We will look to build on these markers of activity in the next cohort of the study, which will evaluate repeat rimiducid dosing to reactivate BPX-601 cells over time. Initial results from this Cohort 5C are expected during the second half of this year."
The poster at ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) GI presented data from Cohort 5B of the study, consisting of 5 pancreatic cancer patients treated with BPX-601 and a single dose of rimiducid. The primary observations were:
BPX-601 GoCAR-T cells exhibited enhanced survival and persistence up to 9 months.
Activation of BPX-601 GoCAR-T cells mediated upregulation of immunomodulatory cytokines in patients.
BPX-601 GoCAR-T cells infiltrated metastatic pancreatic tumors.
Changes in tumor microenvironment gene expression consistent with a productive CAR-T cell immune response were observed in patients treated with BPX-601 GoCAR-T cells activated by rimiducid.
Interim clinical results from the trial—including results from cohort 5B—were reported at ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) on June 1, 2019 and may be found on the Bellicum website under Scientific Publications.
About BPX-601
BPX-601, the company’s first GoCAR-T product candidate, incorporates iMC, Bellicum’s inducible co-activation domain. iMC (inducible MyD88/CD40) is designed to provide a powerful boost to T cell proliferation and persistence, production of immunomodulatory cytokines and enable the CAR-T to override key immune inhibitory mechanisms, including PD-1 and TGF-beta. BPX-601 is being evaluated as a treatment for pancreatic tumors expressing prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA).