RB-340 / Refuge Biotech, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center - LARVOL DELTA

Contextual reprogramming of CAR-T cells for treatment of HER2 cancers. (PubMed, J Transl Med) - "As the first application of CRISPRi toward a clinically relevant product, RB-340-1 with the conditional, non-gene editing and reversible suppression promotes CAR-T cells resilience to checkpoint inhibition, and their persistence and effectiveness against HER2-expressing cancer xenografts."

CAR T-Cell Therapy • IO biomarker • Journal • Head and Neck Cancer • Oncology • Oropharyngeal Cancer • Solid Tumor • HER-2 • PD-1

MD Anderson and Refuge Biotechnologies Collaborate to Advance Next-Generation Cell Therapies for Treatment of Solid Tumors (Businesswire) - "Under the agreement, MD Anderson will possess exclusive rights to apply Refuge’s proprietary platform for next-generation cell engineering to its tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) programs. MD Anderson also will co-develop Refuge’s RB-340, a HER-2 targeted CAR T-cell therapy with context dependent inducible down-regulation of PD-1, including Investigational New Drug (IND) filing, Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) production and Phase I/II clinical trials...Treatment with RB-340 in preclinical models has shown a clear survival benefit compared to conventional CAR T-cell therapy. IND filing is anticipated in the first half of 2022, with clinical development of RB-340 focused in solid tumors."

IND • Licensing / partnership • Preclinical