On December 4, 2016 Kite Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq:KITE) reported that 82 percent of patients (9 out of 11) achieved complete remission or complete remission with incomplete or partial hematological recovery in a preliminary analysis of the Phase 1 ZUMA-3 and ZUMA-4 trials of KTE-C19 in adult and pediatric relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (r/r ALL) (Press release, Kite Pharma, DEC 4, 2016, View Source [SID1234516909]). In these patients, 100 percent of responders tested negative for minimal residual disease (MRD), which has been shown to correlate with risk of disease relapse in ALL. The data were presented today at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) (Free ASH Whitepaper) Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA.
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In the Phase 1 trials, 13 patients were treated with KTE-C19. Eleven patients were evaluable for response and two patients have not reached the evaluation time point at the data cutoff. Patients received a low-dose conditioning chemotherapy regimen based on extensive clinical experience at the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
"We are encouraged by the KTE-C19 safety and efficacy profile in ALL that is suggested by these data," said David Chang M.D., Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Research and Development, and Chief Medical Officer of Kite. "In the Phase 1 portion of these studies, we are enrolling patients with high disease burden to rigorously evaluate safety and efficacy of KTE-C19. We look forward to initiating the Phase 2 portions of these studies in 2017."
Five of 13 (38 percent) patients had ≥ grade 3 cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and five of 13 (38 percent) had ≥ grade 3 neurological events. One patient in ZUMA-3 died from KTE-C19 related CRS and one patient in ZUMA-4 died from a disseminated fungal infection unrelated to KTE-C19. No cerebral edema has been observed.
KTE-C19 was successfully manufactured in these 13 patients across a range of absolute lymphocyte and blast counts in a centralized and streamlined process of six to eight days. The KTE-C19 manufacturing process used in the multicenter ZUMA-3 and ZUMA-4 studies will be discussed in an oral presentation on Monday, December 5, 2016, at 6:45 p.m. PST.
Production of Anti-CD19 CAR T Cells for ZUMA-3 and -4: Phase 1/2 Multicenter Studies Evaluating KTE-C19 in Patients with Relapsed/Refractory B-Precursor Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (R/R ALL)
Abstract #1227 View Source
Presenter: Marianna Sabatino, M.D., Kite Pharma, Director of Product Sciences
About KTE-C19
Kite Pharma’s lead product candidate, KTE-C19, is an investigational therapy in which a patient’s T cells are engineered to express a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) to target the antigen CD19, a protein expressed on the cell surface of B-cell lymphomas and leukemias, and redirect the T cells to kill cancer cells. KTE-C19 has been granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation status for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), transformed follicular lymphoma (TFL), and primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Priority Medicines (PRIME) regulatory support for DLBCL in the EU.