Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Announces Presentations of its Controllable Switch Technology Platform at the American Society of He...
December 11 2017 - 10:00AM
Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLCM), a leader in
developing novel, controllable cellular immunotherapies for cancers
and orphan inherited blood disorders, today announced data
highlighting results from three preclinical studies of its
controllable switch technology for T cell immunotherapies at the
59th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting (ASH)
in Atlanta, Georgia.
“These data continue to support our excitement over the
technology’s potential to make cell therapies safer and more
effective in more tumor types,” said Rick Fair, Bellicum’s
President & Chief Executive Officer. “We are currently
validating our platform in the clinic in three different product
candidates, and look forward to reporting results on these programs
in 2018. With the most advanced controllable cell technologies in
our industry, we believe we are well positioned to move additional
preclinical CAR-T projects into clinical trials that have the
potential to be best-in-class.”
The Company’s novel technology platform is designed to enable
full control over the activation, persistence, and elimination of
cell therapies to safely elicit the full effect of CAR-T and TCR
activity in the body. Unlike traditional approaches, Bellicum’s
controllable CAR-T and TCR constructs are designed to provide
anti-tumor surveillance, even in the absence of cancer antigen. The
switch technologies covered in the posters include:
Technology |
Description |
GoCAR-T |
CAR-T cells incorporated with the inducible MyD88/CD40 (iMC)
costimulatory switch to provide ligand-regulated control over the
activation and persistence of cells |
CIDeCAR |
CAR-T construct that includes the MC costimulatory domain with the
CaspaCIDe® safety switch |
Dual-Switch CAR-T |
CAR-T cells with both the iMC costimulatory switch and CaspaCIDe
safety switch to provide greater control over the activation and
persistence of therapeutic cells, as well as the ability to rapidly
eliminate them by activating the safety switch |
Summary of Study Results
“Dual-Switch CAR-T cells: Orthogonal
Molecular Switches to Control Activation and Elimination of CAR-T
Cells to Target CD123+ Cancer” (Abstract 3184)
Researchers targeted CD123—which is highly expressed in acute
myeloid leukemia (AML) and leukemic stem cells—with a novel
construct consisting of a first-generation CAR combined with
regulated activation and apoptotic signaling elements. T cell
costimulation was controlled by rimiducid, and a
rapamycin-controlled pro-apoptotic safety switch was designed to
induce rapid dimerization of caspase-9 to mitigate possible CAR-T
cell toxicity. Results demonstrate that when combined with a
first-generation CD123-specific CAR, these molecular switches
enable controlled, robust expansion of engineered T cells to
control tumor growth in vitro and in vivo, and provide a rapid and
efficient safety mechanism to block excessive cytokine release.
“Inducible MyD88/CD40 (iMC) Costimulation Enhances
Polyclonal Epstein-Barr Virus-Specific Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte
(EBV-CTL) Proliferation and Anti-Tumor Activity” (Abstract
3337)
Using peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors,
researchers generated EBV-specific T cells, which were genetically
modified with iMC. They concluded that modifying EBV-CTL with iMC
resulted in increased T cell proliferation and persistence and
improved anti-tumor efficacy, suggesting that iMC may have broad
applications, such as modifying tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes,
virus-specific T cells and other polyclonal T cell products to
increase their potency.
“MyD88/CD40 enhanced CD19-specific CAR-T cells maintain
therapeutic efficacy following resolution of cytokine-related
toxicity using inducible caspase-9” (Abstract 4615)
Scientists demonstrated that CD19-specific CAR-T cells modified
with a constitutively active form of the potent fusion protein MC
were effective at eliminating aggressive tumors, with efficacy
associated with cytotoxic cytokine release. However, this toxicity
was effectively resolved with rimiducid-mediated activation of
co-expressed iC9 or by selecting distinct T cell populations
without affecting long-term efficacy of the CAR-T treatment.
The presentations can be found in the Investors & Media
section of the Company’s website.
About Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Bellicum is
a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering
and developing cellular immunotherapies for cancers and orphan
inherited blood disorders. Bellicum is using its proprietary
Chemical Induction of Dimerization (CID) technology platform to
engineer and control components of the immune system. Bellicum is
developing next-generation product candidates in some of the most
important areas of cellular immunotherapy, including hematopoietic
stem cell transplantation (HSCT), and CAR-T and TCR cell therapies.
More information can be found at www.bellicum.com.
Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements for
purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Bellicum may, in some cases, use
terms such as “predicts,” “believes,” “potential,” “proposed,”
“continue,” “designed,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “expects,”
“plans,” “intends,” “may,” “could,” “might,” “will,” “should” or
other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to
identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements include statements regarding our intentions, beliefs,
projections, outlook, analyses or current expectations concerning,
among other things: our research and development activities
relating to rimiducid, CaspaCIDe, the CID platform, iMC, dual
switch, HSCT, CAR-T and TCR programs; the possible range of
application of the CID platform and its potential curative effects
and safety in the treatment of diseases, including as compared to
other treatment options and competitive therapies; the timing and
success of our clinical trials; and, our research and development
activities relating to our GoCAR-T and TCR technologies. Various
factors may cause differences between Bellicum’s expectations and
actual results as discussed in greater detail under the heading
“Risk Factors” in Bellicum’s filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including without limitation our annual report
on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 and our report on
Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2017. Any
forward-looking statements that Bellicum makes in this press
release speak only as of the date of this press release. Bellicum
assumes no obligation to update our forward-looking statements
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise,
after the date of this press release.
Investors: Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Alan
Musso, CFO 832-384-1116 amusso@bellicum.com
Media: BMC Communications Brad
Miles917-570-7340 bmiles@bmccommunications.com
or
BMC CommunicationsAmy Bonanno
914-450-0349abonanno@bmccommunications.com
Source: Bellicum Pharmaceuticals
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