Allogene Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALLO) shares lose a bit of ground Wednesday, after the clinical-stage biotechnology company announced the publication of study results. The study demonstrated the superior long-term in vitro myeloma-killing activity of allogeneic anti-BCMA CAR T cells from healthy donors compared with anti-BCMA CAR T cells from patients with multiple myeloma. The findings were published in Cancer Research Communications, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
The study’s co-author was quoted as saying, “Despite the rapidly evolving treatment landscape for multiple myeloma, this hematologic cancer remains incurable. With so many patients experiencing aggressive disease progression, novel, effective and readily available therapies are needed,”
BCMA is a validated target in multiple myeloma due to its high specificity and broad expression.
In this study, anti-BCMA CAR T cells were generated from young healthy donors and from patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (median age: 61 years) and their profile, fitness and cytotoxic (anti-tumor) activity were compared. Results showed that healthy donors had higher T cell counts, a higher CD4/CD8 T cell ratio, and naïve/stem cell memory phenotype compared with patients with relapsed multiple myeloma.
It also showed anti-BCMA allogeneic CAR T cells derived from healthy donors showed efficient killing of primary multiple myeloma cells across different patient sub-groups including those with high-risk disease.
The San Francisco-based Allogene is a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T cell (AlloCAR T™) products for cancer
ALLO shares descended 14 cents, or 11.1%, to $9.82.
Related Stories
