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

Video

The professor at University Hospital Dresden discussed data presented at the 2022 ASH meeting.

“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
Recent Videos
Mark Hamilton, MD, PhD, a hematology-oncology and bone marrow transplant (BMT) cell therapy fellow at Stanford University
Barry J Byrne, MD, PhD, the chief medical advisor of MDA and a physician-scientist at the University of Florida
Barry J Byrne, MD, PhD, the chief medical advisor of MDA and a physician-scientist at the University of Florida
Sarah Larson, MD, the medical director of the Immune Effector Cell Therapy Program in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
David Porter, MD, the director of cell therapy and transplant at Penn Medicine
David Porter, MD, the director of cell therapy and transplant at Penn Medicine
Georg Schett, MD, vice president research and chair of internal medicine at the University of Erlangen – Nuremberg
Manali Kamdar, MD, the associate professor of medicine–hematology and clinical director of lymphoma services at the University of Colorado
Manali Kamdar, MD, the associate professor of medicine–hematology and clinical director of lymphoma services at the University of Colorado
Related Content
© 2025 MJH Life Sciences

All rights reserved.