Sana Biotechnology Presents Preclinical Data at American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021
April 09 2021 - 9:00AM
Sana Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ: SANA), a company focused on
creating and delivering engineered cells as medicines, today
announced data from its T cell programs are being presented at
the virtual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual
Meeting 2021.
Sana is investing in multiple platform technologies to engineer
cells, and several of these have the potential to address unmet
needs for patients with cancer. Two of these platforms are
highlighted in posters to be presented at AACR. Sana’s fusogen
platform has the potential to deliver genetic payloads to specific
cells in vivo, or inside a patient’s body, including delivery to T
cells of the gene needed to make a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR).
Sana’s hypoimmune platform has the potential to enable transplants
of allogeneic cells without immunosuppression, including allogeneic
CAR T cells.
“We are excited to share data for the first time at AACR, as we
are optimistic that Sana’s platforms can be applied to help cancer
patients,” said Steve Harr, MD, Sana’s President and CEO. “CAR T
cells have shown enormous potential for certain cancer patients,
and Sana’s goal is to make better and more accessible CAR T
therapies so that more patients can benefit.”
“The data presented in these abstracts highlight the potential
of our fusogen and hypoimmune platforms to make high quality,
functional CAR T cells without the logistical complexities of
autologous CAR T cell therapies,” said Terry Fry, MD, Sana’s Head
of T Cell Therapeutics. “The goal of our CD8-targeted fusogen
program is to deliver the CAR gene directly to the T cell in vivo,
and our data highlight the potential of these genetically modified
CAR T cells to kill tumors. Separately, we modify gene expression
in donor T cells to create hypoimmune allogeneic CAR T cells, and
data highlight the potential of these cells to evade both the
innate and adaptive immune systems while retaining anti-tumor
effects. These results represent important progress in validating
Sana’s platforms as we continue towards the clinic.”
Data from two late-breaker abstracts were made available to the
AACR community today and are outlined below. The full posters will
be available to conference participants online beginning Saturday,
April 10 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.
In vivo CAR T therapy:
targeted in vivo gene delivery of
a CAR using a CD8-specific fusogen results in tumor
eradication Authors: Terry Fry, MD et al.
Key takeaways include:
- A single intravenous delivery of a CD8 fusogen containing a
second-generation CD19 CAR transgene resulted in the generation of
CD8 CAR Ts that eradicated the CD19+ tumor xenografts;
- CD8 fusogen delivery resulted in a high percentage of T cells
engineered to express the CAR with specificity for the CD8+ cells;
and
- The fusogen was able to generate a functional CAR response
regardless of prior activation status of the T cells.
Overexpression of CD47 protects hypoimmune CAR T cells
from innate immune cell killing Authors: Sonja Schrepfer,
MD, PhD et al.
Key takeaways include:
- Innate immune cell assays show that CD47 overexpression
protects HLA-I/II deficient CAR T cells from natural killer cell
and macrophage killing both in vitro and in vivo;
- Hypoimmunogenic CAR T cells have shown the ability to
functionally evade the innate and adaptive immune system in
allogeneic recipients with cytotoxic anti-tumor capacity; and
- Hypoimmune CAR T cells have the potential to provide universal
CAR T cells that are able to persist without
immunosuppression.
About Sana BiotechnologySana Biotechnology,
Inc. is focused on creating and delivering engineered cells as
medicines for patients. We share a vision of repairing and
controlling genes, replacing missing or damaged cells, and making
our therapies broadly available to patients. We are more than 250
people working together to create an enduring company that changes
how the world treats disease. Sana has operations in Seattle,
Cambridge, and South San Francisco. For more information about Sana
Biotechnology, please visit https://sana.com/.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
StatementsThis press release contains forward-looking
statements about Sana Biotechnology, Inc. (the “Company,” “we,”
“us,” or “our”) within the meaning of the federal securities laws,
including those related to Sana’s mission and progress, the ability
to make CAR T cells, the ability to address unmet needs for
patients with cancer, and presentations at AACR. All statements
other than statements of historical facts contained in this press
release, including, among others, statements regarding the
Company’s strategy, expectations, cash runway and future financial
condition, future operations, and prospects, are forward-looking
statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking
statements by terminology such as “aim,” “anticipate,” “assume,”
“believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “design,” “due,”
“estimate,” “expect,” “goal,” “intend,” “may,” “objective,” “plan,”
“positioned,” “potential,” “predict,” “seek,” “should,” “target,”
“will,” “would” and other similar expressions that are predictions
of or indicate future events and future trends, or the negative of
these terms or other comparable terminology. The Company has based
these forward-looking statements largely on its current
expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about future
events and financial trends that it believes may affect its
financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and
financial needs. In light of the significant uncertainties in these
forward-looking statements, you should not rely upon
forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. These
statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause
the actual results to vary materially, including, among others, the
risks inherent in drug development such as those associated with
the initiation, cost, timing, progress and results of the Company’s
current and future research and development programs, preclinical
and clinical trials. For a detailed discussion of the risk factors
that could affect the Company’s actual results, please refer to the
risk factors identified in the Company’s SEC reports, including but
not limited to its Annual Report on Form 10-K dated March 24, 2021.
Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to
update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.
Investor Relations:Nicole
Keithinvestor.relations@sana.com
Media:Morgan Warners, Finsbury Glover
Heringmedia@sana.com
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