On December 6, 2023 ONK Therapeutics ("ONK"), an innovative cell therapy company dedicated to developing the next generation of optimally engineered off-the-shelf natural killer (NK) cell therapies, and NAYA Biosciences Inc. ("NAYA"), a company dedicated to increasing patient access to breakthrough treatments in fertility, oncology, and regenerative medicine reported that they have entered into a research partnership to evaluate combination therapy consisting of ONK’s optimally-engineered natural killer (NK) cell therapies and NAYA’s FLEX-NK bispecific antibodies (Press release, ONK Therapeutics, DEC 6, 2023, View Source [SID1234638195]).

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Specifically, the partnership will explore the combination of ONK’s ONKT105, CISH + TGFβR2 double knock-out (KO), sIL-15 knock-in (KI) allogeneic NK cell therapy with NAYA’s GPC3-targeted NY-303 FLEX-NK bispecific antibody.

"We are impressed with the data ONK has generated using its differentiated editing of NK cells, which may further enhance the efficacy of our FLEX-NK bispecific antibodies," commented NAYA’s CEO Dr. Daniel Teper. "The future development of this combination therapy alongside our monotherapy clinical trials will help expand patient options and narrow the gap towards improving the long-term survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma."

ONK’s CEO Chris Nowers added, "The opportunity to partner with NAYA to evaluate the activity of our optimally gene-edited, non-CAR directed, allogeneic NK cell therapies in combination with its exciting FLEX-NK bispecific antibodies offers an opportunity to further improve response rates and durability of NK cell therapy. We believe this therapeutic combination represents a broadly applicable and versatile approach to treat patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases, where additional treatment options are needed."

ONK and NAYA plan to assess several combination therapies in preclinical cancer models in 2024 prior to subsequently exploring initiating clinical trials. The companies’ R&D teams will collaboratively evaluate ONK’s optimally gene-edited NK cell therapy, ONKT105, with NAYA’s NY-303 bispecific antibody before selecting the best candidates for potential clinical development. Both companies will share the costs of manufacturing and preclinical assessments.

ONK Therapeutics employs an innovative gene editing strategy to engineer NK cell therapies that are fit for purpose and optimally engineered, depending on the indication and intent for use alone (CAR NK), or in combination with targeting monoclonal antibody or NK cell engager therapies. All of ONK’s allogeneic NK cell therapy products candidates include the foundational CISH KO gene edit, to allow for enhanced metabolic properties and improved in vivo persistence. ONK has exclusive, worldwide rights to KO of CISH in NK cells, regardless of the source of the NK cells. Additional gene edits, such as the KO of immunosuppressive checkpoints such as TGFβR2, as well as gene knock-ins (KIs), such as sIL-15, are included to further armor the NK cell therapies for maximal activity within the tumor microenvironment.

NAYA’s FLEX-NK bispecific antibodies are built on a proprietary tetravalent, multifunctional format with flexible linker, facilitating simultaneous binding to different antigens on one or multiple cells. They redirect and trigger the killing activity of Natural Killer (NK) cells towards their tumor targets using NKp46 activating receptors. NKp46 mediates NK-cell lysis in both autologous and allogeneic cells and shows sustained expression on NK cells in the tumor microenvironment. NY-303 targets GPC3 for the treatment of HCC and other solid tumors and has demonstrated enhanced tumor growth inhibition when combined with NK cells in data presented at leading conferences including the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) and the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) (Free SITC Whitepaper).