DetailsCategory: DNA RNA and CellsPublished on Monday, 13 July 2020 10:45Hits: 484

FT819 CAR T-cell Product Candidate Derived from Clonal Master iPSC Line with Novel CD19-specific 1XX CAR Integrated into TRAC Locus

Phase 1 Clinical Study will Evaluate FT819 for Patients with Advanced B-cell Leukemias and Lymphomas

SAN DIEGO, CA, USA I July 09, 2020 I Fate Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FATE), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of programmed cellular immunotherapies for cancer and immune disorders, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the Companys Investigational New Drug (IND) application for FT819, an off-the-shelf allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy targeting CD19+ malignancies. FT819 is the first-ever CAR T-cell therapy derived from a clonal master induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line, and is engineered with several first-of-kind features designed to improve the safety and efficacy of CAR T-cell therapy. The Company plans to initiateclinical investigation of FT819for the treatment of patients with relapsed / refractory B-cell malignancies, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).

The clearance of our IND application for FT819 is a ground-breaking milestone in the field of cell-based cancer immunotherapy. Our unique ability to produce CAR T cells from a clonal master engineered iPSC line creates a pathway for more patients to gain timely access to therapies with curative potential, said Scott Wolchko, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fate Therapeutics. Four years ago, we first set out under our partnership with Memorial Sloan Kettering led by Dr. Michel Sadelain to improve on the revolutionary success of patient-derived CAR T-cell therapy and bring an off-the-shelf paradigm to patients, and we are very excited to advance FT819 into clinical development.

FT819 was designed to specifically address several limitations associated with the current generation of patient- and donor-derived CAR T-cell therapies. Under a collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) led by Michel Sadelain, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Center for Cell Engineering, and Head, Gene Expression and Gene Transfer Laboratory at MSK, the Company incorporated several first-of-kind features into FT819 including:

The multi-center Phase 1 clinical trial of FT819 is designed to determine the maximum tolerated dose of FT819 and assess its safety and clinical activity in up to 297 adult patients across three types of B-cell malignancies (CLL, ALL, and NHL). Each indication will enroll independently and evaluate three dose-escalating treatment regimens: Regimen A as a single dose of FT819; Regimen B as a single dose of FT819 with IL-2 cytokine support; and Regimen C as three fractionated doses of FT819. For each indication and regimen, dose-expansion cohorts of up to 15 patients may be enrolled to further evaluate the clinical activity of FT819.

At the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Virtual 2020 Meeting, the Company presented preclinical data demonstrating FT819 is comprised of CD8 T cells with uniform 1XX CAR expression and complete elimination of endogenous TCR expression. Additionally, data from functional assessments showed FT819 has antigen-specific cytolytic activity in vitro against CD19-expressing leukemia and lymphoma cell lines that is comparable to that of healthy donor-derived CAR T cells, and persists and maintains tumor clearance in the bone marrow in an in vivo disseminated xenograft model of lymphoblastic leukemia.

Fate Therapeutics has an exclusive license for all human therapeutic use to U.S. Patent No. 10,370,452 pursuant to its license agreement with MSK1, which patent covers compositions and uses of effector T cells expressing a CAR, where such T cells are derived from a pluripotent stem cell including an iPSC. In addition to the patent rights licensed from MSK, the Company owns an extensive intellectual property portfolio that broadly covers compositions and methods for the genome editing of iPSCs using CRISPR and other nucleases, including the use of CRISPR to insert a CAR in the TRAC locus for endogenous transcriptional control.

1 Fate Therapeutics haslicensedintellectual propertyfrom MSK on which Dr. Sadelain is aninventor.As a result of the licensing arrangement, MSK has financial interests related to Fate Therapeutics.

About Fate Therapeutics iPSC Product PlatformThe Companys proprietary induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) product platform enables mass production of off-the-shelf, engineered, homogeneous cell products that can be administered with multiple doses to deliver more effective pharmacologic activity, including in combination with cycles of other cancer treatments. Human iPSCs possess the unique dual properties of unlimited self-renewal and differentiation potential into all cell types of the body. The Companys first-of-kind approach involves engineering human iPSCs in a one-time genetic modification event and selecting a single engineered iPSC for maintenance as a clonal master iPSC line. Analogous to master cell lines used to manufacture biopharmaceutical drug products such as monoclonal antibodies, clonal master iPSC lines are a renewable source for manufacturing cell therapy products which are well-defined and uniform in composition, can be mass produced at significant scale in a cost-effective manner, and can be delivered off-the-shelf for patient treatment. As a result, the Companys platform is uniquely capable of overcoming numerous limitations associated with the production of cell therapies using patient- or donor-sourced cells, which is logistically complex and expensive and is subject to batch-to-batch and cell-to-cell variability that can affect clinical safety and efficacy. Fate Therapeutics iPSC product platform is supported by an intellectual property portfolio of over 300 issued patents and 150 pending patent applications.

About Fate Therapeutics, Inc.Fate Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of first-in-class cellular immunotherapies for cancer and immune disorders. The Company has established a leadership position in the clinical development and manufacture of universal, off-the-shelf cell products using its proprietary induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) product platform. The Companys immuno-oncology product candidates include natural killer (NK) cell and T-cell cancer immunotherapies, which are designed to synergize with well-established cancer therapies, including immune checkpoint inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies, and to target tumor-associated antigens with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs). The Companys immuno-regulatory product candidates include ProTmune, a pharmacologically modulated, donor cell graft that is currently being evaluated in a Phase 2 clinical trial for the prevention of graft-versus-host disease, and a myeloid-derived suppressor cell immunotherapy for promoting immune tolerance in patients with immune disorders. Fate Therapeutics is headquartered in San Diego, CA. For more information, please visit http://www.fatetherapeutics.com.

SOURCE: Fate Therapeutics

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