Prescient (ASX: PTX) rolls out new cell therapy platform, CellPryme-M

Highlights

• Prescient has launched its second cell therapy platform, CellPryme-M, which produces superior cells with greater cancer killing activity
• CellPryme-M, whose IP ownership is retained by Prescient, opens commercial opportunities for the company to incorporate it into third-party manufacturing processes
• CellPryme-M CAR-T cells show significantly better performance compared to conventional CAR-T cells in highly aggressive solid cancer models
• Users can incorporate CellPryme-M into their manufacturing process with virtually no interruption, even if their manufacturing timeframes are only 24-48 hours

In an upbeat development, clinical-stage oncology company Prescient Therapeutics (ASX:PTX) has rolled out a second cell therapy platform, “CellPryme-M”. It is a high-performance cell therapy manufacturing enhancement platform technology.

PTX developed the technology in association with its research partner, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Peter Mac), a global cancer research leader. 

Prescient retains the whole ownership of the intellectual property of CellPryme-M. This newly added technology platform opens new business prospects and commercial opportunities for Prescient to incorporate CellPryme-M into third-party manufacturing processes.

Why CellPryme-M is better than traditional CAR-T cells

During the cell production process, CellPryme-M produces superior cells, which are less susceptible to exhaustion. These cells can perform cancer killing activity for a longer duration and hold the potential for improved tumour trafficking and penetrance compared to the existing generation of CAR-T cells.

Overall, the CellPryme-M CAR-T cells show significantly better performance than conventional CAR-T cells in highly aggressive solid cancer models. It truly complements the OmniCAR platform, which enables control, multi-valency and many other characteristics and is agnostic to cell type.

Image source: PTX investor presentation

Do read: Prescient (ASX:PTX) expands its PTX-200 trial in AML patients

Cells with more desirable phenotype

CellPryme-M produces cells with a superior phenotype, which increases the effectiveness of CAR-T therapy. It consists of a single, prompt step that can be adapted to standard cell manufacturing procedures. It works by influencing gene expression in immune cells resulting in:

• Down-regulation of genes linked with cell metabolism and protein folding
• Up-regulation of genes associated with interferon and cytokine signalling and genomic stability

Superior CAR-T cell phenotypes with greater proliferative capacity and long-lasting tumour killing activity are highly desirable as cell phenotype determines clinical anti-cancer responses. It is possible to control T-cell phenotype during the manufacturing process of cells. CellPryme-M produces these cells by altering the phenotype of T cells to a less differentiated state.

Image source: PTX investor presentation

The features of cells produced by CellPryme-M are as follows:

Image source: © 2022 Kalkine Media®

 According to Prescient’s Senior Vice President of Scientific Affairs, Dr Rebecca Lim, CellPryme-M alters key signalling pathways within as little as 15 minutes, which means that users can incorporate CellPryme-M into their manufacturing process with virtually no interruption, even if their manufacturing timeframes are only 24-48 hours.

Doubled tumour control - The superior phenotype of CellPryme-M cells does not reduce the effectiveness of T cells, and they retain their potency with no safety risks due to higher cytokine release. Further, these cells exhibited almost doubled tumour control compared to conventional CAR-T and considerably improved survival in a mouse model of highly aggressive breast cancer, hugely resistant to conventional CAR-T.

Antiviral activity - During the development of CellPryme-M, there was rapid activation of genes relating to potent anti-viral pathways. This is an important finding as T cells with improved anti-viral activity might offer a definite gain in creating effective anti-viral therapies.

The road ahead

With exciting pre-clinical data, CellPryme-M is now ready for clinical testing. PTX plans to utilise CellPryme-M for enriching the cells used in its innovative OmniCAR programs. Further, PTX will pursue licensing of CellPryme-M to other cell therapy companies. This will improve conventional CAR-T programs and create value-adding alliances with external parties.

At the time of writing this article (WED 08 JUN 11:59 AM AEST), shares of PTX were trading at AU$0.215.

Also read: Cell therapies progress and strong cash position mark Prescient’s March quarter

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