Regenerative Medicine

UK-based Quell Therapeutics Ltd is to out-licence a candidate cell therapy for inflammatory bowel disease to AstraZeneca Plc following the achievement of a research milestone. Further details of the research goal were not disclosed. The two companies have been collaborating since 2023 in the development of engineered T-regulatory (Treg) cell therapies for two immune-mediated disease indications. Inflammatory bowel disease is one indication and Type 1 diabetes is the other. The achievement of the milestone will trigger a payment to Quell of $10 million.

The US Food and Drug Administration has relaxed some rules for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies in order to minimise the tasks that healthcare providers are required to perform. From 26 June, rules known as Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) will be eliminated for six autologous CAR T cell therapies which are on the market for cancer indications. The therapies are directed against the CD19 and B-cell maturation antigens.

A new stem cell therapy has been recommended for conditional approval by the European Medicines Agency for patients with a blood cancer who need a transplant following chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy but have no suitable donors. The allogeneic product, Zemcelpro, is derived from umbilical cord blood and contains two components. These are expanded CD34+ cells and unexpanded CD34- cells, each derived from the same cord blood unit.

Eli Lilly and Co is to acquire Verve Therapeutics Inc of Boston, US, in a share transaction valued at $1 billion upfront in order to broaden its portfolio of treatments for people at risk of cardiovascular disease. Announced on 17 June, the deal comes two years after the companies entered a collaboration to explore the use of in vivo gene editing to develop therapies for genetic diseases. With a candidate medicine for artherosclerotic cardiovascular disease now in Phase 1b, the companies have decided to merge.

CRISPR base editing has delivered a landmark n-of-1 gene therapy for an infant with carbamoyl phosphate synthetase 1 (CPS1) deficiency, in a clinical milestone that may redefine how rare genetic diseases are treated. CPS1 deficiency is a mitochondrial disorder caused by a loss-of-function mutation in the CPS1 gene that impairs the urea cycle and leads to life-threatening hyperammonaemia.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new allogeneic encapsulated, cell-based gene therapy for a rare neurodegenerative disease that affects the macula, a portion of the eye that processes central vision. The product, Encelto (revakinagene taroretcel) is a therapy that delivers a recombinant protein to the retina to slow down the progression of the disease. Delivery is by way of a surgical intravitreal implant by an ophthalmologist.

bluebird bio Inc is to be acquired by two private equity groups in a move to provide more capital to the gene therapy developer which was founded by two academics in 1992 and now has three approved products on the market. The transaction, which was announced on 21 February, will transform bluebird into a private enterprise from its current status as a publicly listed concern on the Nasdaq market. The buyers are Carlyle Group Inc and SK Capital Partners LP.

A new cell therapy has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat paediatric patients from two months of age who experience complications from a stem cell transplant for blood cancer or an immune system disorder. The treatment, Ryoncil (remestemcell-L rknd), is an allogeneic therapy made up from mesenchymal stromal cells and isolated from the bone marrow of healthy adult donors. It is indicated for the treatment of acute graft-versus-host disease in patients undergoing transplants who do not respond to corticosteroids.

Novartis is to tap the engineering expertise of Vyriad Inc of the US in order to discover and develop in vivo chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies. Announced on 20 November, the agreement will take cell-based gene therapy technology to a new level by enabling the CAR recombinant protein to be delivered to T cells in their natural environment. This will be done by using a lentiviral delivery system to target and transduce resting T cells and reprogramme them while they are still inside the body. The reprogrammed cells would become potential treatment for patients.

Biopharma executives in Europe and Asia, together with their financial supporters, have launched a new company to develop therapies that will both activate and inhibit the function of regulatory T cells (Tregs). Tregs are white blood cells that play a key role in regulating the immune system to ensure that the body responds appropriately to foreign antigens and neoantigens. Announced on 18 October, Regimmune/Kiji TX is the result of a merger between Kiji Therapeutics of France and Regimmune Ltd of Taiwan. The Japan based venture capital group DCI Partner Co Ltd helped execute the merger.