On Feb 9, 2015 Cellular Biomedicine Group reported its acquisition of Chinese PLA General Hospital’s (“PLAGH”, Beijing, also known as “301 Hospital”) Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy, its recombinant expression vector CD19, CD20, CD30 and Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor’s (EGFR or HER1) Immuno-Oncology patents (all pending), and Phase I/II clinical data of the aforementioned therapies and manufacturing knowledge (Press release Cellular Biomedicine Group, FEB 9, 2015, View Source [SID:1234501528]).
“This CAR-T cell technology acquisition further accelerates CBMG’s growth in the Immuno-Oncology segment. We look forward to working with PLAGH as a long-term partner as we evaluate paths to commercialization,” commented Dr. William (Wei) Cao, Chief Executive Officer of Cellular Biomedicine Group.
CAR-T cell therapy involves engineering cancer patients’ own immune cells to recognize and attack their tumors. Wei Dong Han, MD, PhD, head of PLAGH’s Biotherapy Department, is a renowned key opinion leader in the cancer immunotherapy field. Professor Han’s team has conducted several preliminary clinical studies of various CAR-T constructs targeting CD19-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia, CD20-positive lymphoma, CD30-positive Hodgkin’s lymphoma and EGFR-HER1-positive advanced lung cancer. PLAGH is a top-ranking medical center in China, holding to the highest academic standards. The hospital consists of 125 clinical, medical and technological departments and 4,000 patient beds, with annual volumes of approximately 4 million patients and more than 65,000 surgeries.
Prior to acquiring PLAGH’s technology, the Company has made progress with recent acquisitions of Agreen Biotech Co. Ltd. and its T-Cell Memory technology (Tcm), T Cell Receptor clonality analysis technology, as well as another third generation CAR-T, anti-PD-1, CD19 and aAPC cancer immunotherapy technologies from Persongen Biotechnology Ltd. Together with PLAGH’s technology, CBMG’s state-of-the art infrastructure and clinical platform, along with these acquired technologies will enable improvement of cancer immune cell therapies and strategic combination therapies which will boost the Company’s Immuno-Oncology presence, and pave the way for future partnerships.
“We are very impressed by the quality of the work done by Dr. Han and his team at PLAGH, and are excited by the safe and efficacious profile of these novel T cell therapies for cancerous diseases, which we deem necessary to be a leader in this field while providing alluring prospective therapies for other cancers. This is the beginning of a long-term strategic partnership between CBMG and PLAGH. Together, we will expeditiously continue our quest in developing safer and more effective cancer immunotherapy programs with leading hospitals and other partners,” said Dr. William (Wei) Cao, Chief Executive Officer of Cellular Biomedicine Group.