Gerhard Ehninger, MD, on Beneficial Safety in AML With Rapidly Switchable CAR Therapy

“We gave our first report on this adapter CAR system with our dose escalation trial. It was great what we saw, we were able to show proof-of-concept that we can stop cytokine release syndrome immediately when we withdraw the target module. It can be stopped and started again when the cytokine release storm is over. Or, when severe transaminitis is coming, we can stop it very rapidly.”

The universal chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy Unicar-T-CD123 (AVC-101; AvenCell) has shown positive data validating its switchable target module mechanism in a first-in-human phase 1/2 clinical trial (NCT04230265) in patients with acute myeloid leukemia. These data were presented at the 64th Annual American Society of Hematology (ASH) Meeting, held December 10-13, 2022, in New Orleans, Louisiana, by Gerhard Ehninger, MD, professor, internal medicine, University Hospital Dresden.

CGTLive spoke with Ehninger to learn more about the potential advantages of the switchable target module mechanism. He discussed the positive safety profile seen in the trial, due in part to the switchable mechanism. He also discussed preliminary efficacy data observed in the trial, including an overall 31% complete response rate and minimal residual disease rate and 35% partial response rate. He noted that patients were heavily pretreated, and half were above the age of 65 years, reaching up to age 80.

Click here to read more coverage of the 2022 ASH Meeting.

REFERENCE

Phase 1 dose escalation study of the rapidly switchable universal CAR-T therapy Unicar-T-CD123 in relapsed/refractory AML. Presented at: 64th Annual ASH Meeting, December 10-13, 2022, New Orleans, Louisiana. Abstract #979