Date: 2018-01-18
Type of information: Clinical research agreement
Compound: Yescarta™ (axicabtagene ciloleucel) and utomilumab large B-cell lymphoma
Company: Gilead Sciences (USA - CA) Pfizer (USA - NY)
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
Type agreement: clinical research
Action mechanism:
- cell therapy/immunotherapy product/gene therapy/CAR-T cell therapy/monoclonal antibody. Axicabtagene ciloleucel previously known as KTE-C19, is Kite Pharma's lead product candidate in which a patient's T cells are genetically modified using a gammaretroviral vector to express a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) designed to target the antigen CD19, a protein expressed on the cell surface of B cell lymphomas and leukemias.
- Utomilumab (PF-05082566) is an investigational, fully humanized mAb that targets 4-1BB (CD-137), a protein expressed in many immune cells. In pre-clinical models, it has shown anti-tumor activity by enhancing T-cell mediated immune responses. Pfizer is currently investigating utomilumab in both hematologic cancers and solid tumors as a single agent and in combination with other anti-cancer therapies. Evidence also suggests that 4-1BB, a costimulatory protein expressed on activated T cells, is upregulated upon exposure to CD19-expressing tumor cells. Utomilumab could potentially enhance T cell proliferation and activity by augmenting the CD28 costimulatory domain of Yescarta with exogenous 4-1BB signaling.
Disease: refractory large B-cell lymphoma
Details:
- • On January 18, 2018, Kite, a Gilead company, announced it has entered into a clinical trial collaboration with Pfizer, to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the investigational combination of Yescarta™ (axicabtagene ciloleucel) and Pfizer's utomilumab, a fully humanized 4-1BB agonist monoclonal antibody, in patients with refractory large B-cell lymphoma. A multi-center Phase 1/2 study sponsored by Kite is expected to begin in 2018. The results of this study will be used to evaluate options for further development of this combination, or similar combinations between Kite's engineered T cell products and utomilumab.
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