ImmunityBio’s novel immunotherapy NANR cancer vaccine is awarded a US patent

This novel investigational treatment for cancer is designed to bolster a patient’s own immune response to cancerous cells, augment that response with additional natural killer and T-cell therapies to overcome the cancer’s resistance and induce long-term T-cell memory to induce remission across multiple tumor types. The NCV has been in clinical testing since 2017 and has its foundation in earlier work that led to the development of Abraxane, an albumin nanoparticle that enables the delivery of paclitaxel to the tumor microenvironment. The basis of the orchestrated, multi-modal NCV approach is delivery of chemotherapy agents in a ‘metronomic’ fashion—low doses spread over time—to expose the tumor to immune system recognition by release of tumor-specific antigens. The tumor antigens are then targeted by antigen-specific T-cells activated via ImmunityBio’s adenoviral- and yeast-based vaccine vectors. T cell activation can then be enhanced further by infusion of the company’s proprietary, off-the-shelf, natural killer cell platform and its IL-15 superagonist N-803 (Anktiva).

MANUFACTURING

Nkarta plans to reduce manufacturing costs with new cell therapy plant

Nkarta announced plans to build an integrated hub comprising manufacturing and R&D facilities and company headquarters in South San Francisco. When it is operational at the end of 2023, the facility will be capable of manufacturing NK cell therapies for $2,000 per dose, with the cost expected to decrease over time, Hastings said. Nkarta will manufacture NKX019, an allogeneic NK cell therapy genetically engineered with a CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor and a proprietary, membrane-bound IL-15, at the new facility. The company plans to start a Phase I trial of NKX019 to treat patients with relapsed and refractory B cell malignancies in the U.S. and Australia in 2H21. Nkarta also plans to transfer manufacturing of NKX101 to the new facility. NKX101 is an allogeneic NK cell therapy genetically modified to express a chimeric NKG2D receptor complex and a membrane-bound IL-15. Nkarta is conducting a Phase 1 trial of NKX101 to treat patients with relapsed and refractory AML or higher risk MDS.