Wugen to Initiate a Pivotal Trial for Its Investigational, Off-the-Shelf, Allogeneic, CD7-Targeted CAR-T Cell Therapy, WU-CART-007, in Patients with Relapsed or Refractory T Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia or T Cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma
-- First Pivotal Trial for an Off-the-Shelf, Allogeneic CD7-Targeted CAR-T Cell Therapy to Begin in First Quarter 2025
-- The Global Study Will Evaluate WU-CART-007 in Pediatric and Adult Patients
ST. LOUIS, Mo. and SAN DIEGO, Nov. 12, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wugen, Inc., a clinical-stage U.S. biotechnology company developing allogeneic, off-the-shelf cell therapies for the treatment of hematological and solid tumor malignancies, today announced it will initiate a pivotal Phase 2 study in the first quarter of 2025 for the company’s potential first-in-class, investigational, anti-CD7 CAR-T cell therapy, WU-CART-007, in patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia or T cell lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-ALL/LBL).
“T-ALL/LBL is an aggressive cancer with a significant need for new therapies given that many patients will progress on standard of care,” said Kumar Srinivasan, Ph.D., Wugen president and chief executive officer. “Wugen is well positioned for this critical stage of research and development for WU-CART-007. Recently, we generated positive Phase 1/2 results; received significant new regulatory designations – RMAT and PRIME – to expedite our clinical development path in the United States and Europe; and deepened our cell therapy expertise with Cherry T. Thomas, M.D. joining our team as chief medical officer.”
The pivotal Phase 2 study is a single-arm trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of WU-CART-007 in patients with R/R T-ALL/LBL and T-ALL/LBL. The study will evaluate the efficacy of WU-CART-007 in two groups: an R/R cohort and an exploratory minimum residual disease (MRD)-positive cohort. The trial will enroll pediatric and adult patients at oncology centers in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia.
“With a 20-year void of new medicines to treat patients with relapsed or refractory T-ALL/LBL, many of whom are young, we believe off-the-shelf allogeneic CD7-targeted CAR-T cell therapies may offer hope and innovation,” said Dr. Thomas, Wugen’s chief medical officer.
“Wugen’s progress in advancing WU-CART-007 also includes a robust, scalable and efficient commercial manufacturing process, developed with our partners to create a CD7-targeted therapy for off-the-shelf use,” said Matt Cooper, Ph.D., Wugen’s co-founder and chief scientific officer, who invented WU-CART-007 as a researcher at Washington University in St. Louis, MO.
Wugen previously announced positive results from a Phase 1/2 cohort expansion study showing clinically manageable safety and evidence of anti-leukemic activity (overall response rate of 91%) in heavily pre-treated patients with R/R T-ALL/LBL. Researchers will present a data update at the American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting (ASH) 2024, Dec. 7-10 in San Diego.
Follow Wugen’s LinkedIn page to see abstracts to be presented at ASH 2024 for WU-CART-007 and for WU-NK-101, Wugen’s investigational off-the-shelf memory natural killer cell therapy.
About WU-CART-007
WU-CART-007 is an allogeneic, off-the-shelf, fratricide-resistant CD7-targeted CAR-T cell therapy engineered to overcome the technological challenges of harnessing CAR-T cells to treat CD7+ hematological malignancies. Wugen is deploying CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology to delete CD7 and the T cell receptor alpha constant (TRAC), preventing CAR-T cell fratricide and mitigating the risk of graft-versus-host-disease (GvHD). WU-CART-007 is manufactured using healthy donor-derived T cells to eliminate the risk of malignant cell contamination historically observed in the autologous CAR-T setting. WU-CART-007 is currently being evaluated in a global Phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment of relapsed or refractory (R/R) T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL)/lymphoblastic lymphoma (LBL). More information on the Phase 1/2 trial is available on clinicaltrials.gov, identifier NCT# 04984356 and on the Phase 2 pivotal trial on clinicaltrials.gov, identifier NCT06514794.
WU-CART-007 has received Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT), Fast Track, Orphan Drug, and Rare Pediatric Disease designations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Priority Medicines (PRIME) Scheme designation in the European Union for the treatment of relapsed/refractory (R/R) T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and T cell lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-LBL). RMAT and PRIME designations provide increased agency support to expedite the development and review of promising therapies for patients in need.
About Wugen
Wugen, Inc. is a clinical-stage U.S. biotechnology company developing the next generation of off-the-shelf CAR-T and memory natural killer (NK) cell therapies for cancer. For more information, please visit www.wugen.com and follow Wugen’s LinkedIn page.
Investor Contact:
Mark Lewis
Wugen
Mlewis@wugen.com
314-501-1968
Media Contact:
Christine Fanelle
Scient PR
christine@scientpr.com
215-595-5211
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