Category Archives: Dendritic cells

Sellas merges with Galena to advance WT1 peptide cancer vaccine

Sellas reversed merged into Galena, a peptide vaccine company whose lead product, NeuVax, for breast cancer failed. Sellas’ lead product is galinpepimut-S for AML (acute myelogenous leukemia) and mesothelioma, as well as other cancers. Continue reading

Argos’ Phase 3 Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Study Discontinued by Data Monitoring Committee

Rocapuldencel-T is an autologous dendritic cell immunotherapy for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma about which we have written previously. It is produced by isolating patient tumor mRNA, which is then electroporated into patient dendritic cells in the presence of CD40 ligand. The rationale of this approach is to bypass mechanisms by which cancer cells dampen the anti-tumor immune response, including down-regulation of MHC Class I molecules. If the cancer antigens are presented on licensed dendritic cells, logically, the immune system would be appropriately stimulated to attack the cancer. Continue reading

Celgene Acquires EngMab for BCMA Program

Celgene acquired EngMab for $600MM to enrich its programs targeting B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Celgene is exploiting BCMA in both CAR T (chimeric antigen receptor T-cell) and bispecific antibodies targeting CD-3 (Cluster of differentiation 3), Continue reading

Blocking CD47 Innate Checkpoint Control for Cancer Treatment

Several companies, including Trillium, Celgene, Tioma, and Forty Seven are developing products that block CD47 for the treatment of cancer. Researchers have also shown that attacking CD47 may be a better approach to bone marrow conditioning prior bone marrow transplant. Continue reading

Combination Therapy of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors to Combat Lung Cancer – James P. McCauley, Contributor

Researchers at AstraZeneca have completed a small-scale study which demonstrated the synergistic benefit of utilizing two immunotherapy drugs to combat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) over just a single immunotherapy drug. The study found that utilizing an immune checkpoint inhibitor for PD-1, called durvalumab, in combination with another immune checkpoint inhibitor for CTLA-4, called tremelimumab, had a tumor response rate of 23% for metastatic NSCLC. Researchers at AstraZeneca are, indeed, confident that combination immune checkpoint therapy is the key to developing more efficient immunotherapies to target and effectively treat cancer. Continue reading

Cell-based Immunotherapies in the News

Baxalta, the biopharmaceutical spinoff of Baxter, entered into a $1.7 B deal with Precision BioSceinces for 6 CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell) projects, and Saronic Biotechnology announced positive data in preclinical studies of its autologous dendritic cell vaccine for hepatocellular carcinoma. Continue reading