Allogeneic vs Autologous CAR T-Cell Therapies

“Relative to the autologous, the allogeneic [CAR Ts are] an opportunity to enhance the patient experience, the user experience. Autologous CAR T cells... have made a huge impact. But it's a multi-week process. It's a transplant-like process. I'm trying to adjust our thinking to making the CAR T process more like that of a regular therapeutic.”

Chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR T)-cell therapies are gaining prominence for their potential to treat hematologic cancers and, more recently, solid tumors. While early CAR T-cell therapies were autologous, the field is moving more toward the manufacture of more efficient and scalable allogeneic CAR T-cell therapies.

Celyad Oncology is developing a number of allogeneic CAR T-cell therapies, with their lead program CYAD-211 currently being evaluated in the phase 1 IMMUNICY trial (NCT04613557). The company announced positive interim data from IMMUNICY in June 2021 that showed dose-dependent engraftment up to dose level 3 of 300 x 106 cells per infusion with no graft-versus-host disease reported to date.

GeneTherapyLive spoke with Filippo Petti, chief executive officer and chief financial officer, and Charles Morris, MBBS, chief medical officer, Celyad Oncology, to learn more about the advantages of allogeneic CAR T therapies. They discussed their pipeline of allogeneic CAR T therapies as well as the 1 autologous CAR T therapy the company is developing.

REFERENCE

Celyad Oncology presents updates on allogeneic CAR T clinical candidates and shRNA-based preclinical concepts at research & development day. News release. Celyad Oncology. July 20, 2021. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210720005854/en/Celyad-Oncology-Presents-Updates-on-Allogeneic-CAR-T-Clinical-Candidates-and-shRNA-based-Preclinical-Concepts-at-Research-Development-Day