On September 9, 2019 Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NASDAQ: PHIO), a biotechnology company developing the next generation of immuno-oncology therapeutics based on its proprietary self-delivering RNAi (sd-rxRNA) therapeutic platform, reported that it has entered into a research collaboration with Carisma Therapeutics to evaluate the potential of Phio’s self-delivering RNAi compounds to synergistically modify Carisma’s chimeric antigen receptor macrophages (CAR-M) (Press release, Phio Pharmaceuticals, SEP 9, 2019, View Source [SID1234539376]). Silencing of key genes using sd-rxRNA compounds may enhance the immune function of these cells as a novel adoptive cell therapy for use in cancer treatment.
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!
"Overcoming local tumor immunosuppression remains a significant challenge in the treatment of cancer," said Dr. John A. Barrett, Chief Development Officer of Phio Pharmaceuticals. "We have established collaborations with several companies and academic institutions to validate our technology’s ability to improve the activity of T cells, TILS, NK cells and dendritic cells towards tumors. Macrophages are sentinel cells of the innate immune system that robustly accumulate in most solid tumors. Combining Phio’s gene silencing technology with Carisma’s CAR-M technology has the potential to enhance aspects of macrophage anti-tumor activity and may further tip the scale in favor of an immunostimulatory phenotype and enhance tumor cell killing. We believe we can leverage both technologies to turn cold tumors hot and ultimately improve outcomes for patients."
Dr. Gerrit Dispersyn, Phio Pharmaceuticals’ President and CEO stated "We are very excited to work with the Carisma Therapeutics team, which represents our first collaboration addressing macrophages utility as an immunotherapeutic. By combining Carisma’s unique approach to adoptive cell therapy using CAR macrophages with our self-delivering RNAi technology, we expect to demonstrate potential synergies between our platforms that could enable us to bring new and improved forms of adoptive cell therapy to patients in the future. Our overall strategy in this setting is to generate robust data that validate our platform for the weaponization of a broad range of immune cells against tumors in order to generate future partnerships and build shareholder value."
"Metastatic solid tumors have been an intractable challenge for engineered cell therapies. Our platform technology, based on the genetically engineered macrophage, has a unique opportunity to provide benefit in this disease state," said Dr. Michael Klichinsky, co-Founder and Vice President of Discovery at Carisma. "We are excited to work with Phio to evaluate sd-rxRNA mediated silencing of genes that have the potential to enhance macrophage immunotherapy."