When it comes to CAR T therapies, South Korea is trailing behind the U.S. and China, but the South Korean government sees cell and gene therapies as a space where the country can draw international investors, speakers said during the Bio Korea 2023 conference in Seoul on May 10.
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) and Ginkgo Bioworks Inc. have announced a partnership to leverage Ginkgo's proprietary high-throughput combinatorial chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) discovery and screening platform with the aim of discovering next-generation GD2 CAR T-cell therapies.
In the March 2023 issue of Science Immunology, researchers working at the City of Hope National Medical Center reported on the discovery the mechanisms by which the spliced X-box–binding protein 1 (XBP1s) served essential functions in the IL-15-dependent survival of natural killer (NK) cells. Since XBP1s is known to play critical roles in MHCII expression, the unfolded protein stress response, and ultimately tumorigenesis, the study provided deep insights into the understanding of NK cell biology with translational potential.
The U.S. FDA granted Nanjing Iaso Biotherapeutics Co. Ltd. both regenerative medicine advanced therapy and fast track designations for its new drug, BCMA CAR T-cell therapy CT-103A (equecabtagene autoleucel), allowing it to speed up development and commercialization in the U.S. for the treatment of relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.
CAR T specialist Carsgen Therapeutics Holdings Ltd. out-licensed commercial rights for its B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) CAR T therapy, CT-053, in mainland China to Huadong Medicine Co Ltd. in a deal worth up to $152 million.
Clinical trials in China are growing up in much the same way the R&D enterprise in China has grown up. They are evolving and becoming more sophisticated, reflecting the maturation of the R&D environment around them.
Immunotherapy company Cartherics Pty Ltd. is leading a consortium that received a AU$5.4 million (US$3.6 million) grant from the Medical Research Futures Fund to develop a new approach to enhance cancer therapy by engaging the patient’s own immune system to complement CAR cell therapy.
“We look at Japan with some envy with what they’ve been able to achieve and their approach to regenerative medicine, which has been supported significantly by their federal government,” said Silvio Tiziano, CEO of the Center for the Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine Australia, during the recent Ausbiotech conference in Perth.
