Stevenage, U.K.-based Achilles Therapeutics said
Tuesday that it had raised 100 million pounds – equal to about $120
million – in a Series B round, led by RA Capital Management. Founding
investor Syncona participated, along with Forbion, Perceptive Advisors
and Redmile Group.
The company said proceeds for the
round will be used to launch two clinical trials of its product
candidates in non-small cell lung cancer and melanoma. Its pipeline page
lists multicenter Phase I/IIa studies for both indications. Both trials are listed also on ClinicalTrials.gov, with the page for the NSCLC study stating it is currently open for recruitment.
Achilles’ approach involves personalized T-cell therapies that target
clonal neoantigens, which are protein markers unique to each patient
that are present on the surface of cancer cells. The starting material
for the products, known as clonal neoantigen T cells – or cNeT –
consists of T cells isolated from a tumor sample known as
tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, or TILs.
“The Achilles approach integrates years of multi-disciplinary
scientific and clinical knowledge from immuno-oncology, cell therapy and
genomics with the goal of creating a TIL-based therapeutic enriched
with T cells reacting against clonal neoantigens,” RA Capital Management
Derek DiRocco said in a statement. “We believe this approach may
represent the optimal way to expand the utility of polyclonal TIL
therapy to multiple solid tumor types and has the potential to provide
profound clinical benefit for patients living with cancer.”
TILs represent one of multiple kinds of cell therapies currently in
development for cancers. Another company developing them is Iovance,
which said
in July that, per discussions with the Food and Drug Administration, it
could use data from its Phase II study of a TIL in cervical cancer to
seek the agency’s approval.
Other types of cell therapies include T-cell receptors, or TCRs, and chimeric antigen receptor T-cells, or CAR-T. Novartis’ Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) and Gilead Sciences’ Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel) are CAR-Ts with FDA approval for blood cells, both targeting the CD19 antigen.
Source. Medcity News, Alaric Dearment, September 4, 2019
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