Prescient Therapeutics signs deal with Q-Gen to enable OmniCAR clinical trials

Clinical-stage oncology company Prescient Therapeutics (ASX: PTX) has entered a services agreement with specialist cell therapy manufacturer Q-Gen Cell Therapeutics for the manufacture of its OmniCAR cell lines for upcoming clinical trials.

The five-year agreement covers the production and delivery of autologous and allogeneic OmniCAR-T cells to be made at Q-Gen’s facility in Queensland for pharmaceutical companies and academic research groups.

Material conditions of the contract include transduction of T cells with SpyCatcher lentivirus; arming of OmniCAR-T cells with SpyTagged binders; and associated quality measures.

It will also incorporate new high-performance platform CellPryme-M into the manufacturing process of OmniCAR-T cells.

Prescient managing director Steven Yatomi-Clarke said the agreement was an “important milestone” for the company.

“This secures a crucial supply of OmniCAR cells for our clinical trials and ensures we are producing the best possible cell therapy products for doctors and patients living with hard-to-treat cancers,” he said.

T cell process

CAR-T therapies involve isolating T cells belonging to a cancer patient and inserting new genetic material into them so they express a new chimeric antigen receptor capable of recognising cancer cells.

They are then re-infused into the patient.

By contrast, OmniCAR-T cells will express a universal immune receptor known as SpyCatcher, which is able to bind with any separate SpyTagged targeting ligand.

This allows OmniCAR cells to potentially address any cancer by incorporating binders to any cancer antigen.

The modularity also enables other important and novel characteristics to overcome limitations faced by conventional CAR-T therapies including post-infusion control of T cell activity and antigen re-direction.

Prescient is developing OmniCAR programs for next-generation CAR-T therapies to treat acute myeloid leukemia; Her2+ solid tumours, including breast, ovarian and gastric cancers; and glioblastoma multiforme aggressive brain tumours.

In January, Prescient received accreditation by Australia’s Office of the Gene Regulator enabling it to conduct clinical trials involving gene-edited cells such as OmniCAR.