Australian clinical stage biotech company Prescient Therapeutics (ASX: PTX) will undertake three internal development programs to advance its state-of-the-art cancer platform, OmniCAR.

The development programs will each target different types of cancer where conventional CAR T therapies (where T cells from patients’ immune systems are genetically re-engineered to identify and fight cancer) have run into challenges.

Prescient’s next gen CAR-T programs include Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), glioblastoma multiforme (one of the most common types of brain tumor), and solid tumors including breast, gastric, and ovarian cancers.

The OmniCAR platform is built on technology licensed from CAR T therapy leaders University of Pennsylvania and Oxford University, and provides medical professionals with a ‘universal immune receptor platform’, which offers numerous benefits over conventional CAR T treatments.

The use of the OmniCAR platform in these cancers is expected to improve the safety of the CAR T treatment, as well as allow the T cells produced through the process, to target multiple sites in the body simultaneously or be redirected from one target to another.

The development programs will help to move the OmniCAR technology towards clinical programs and simultaneously demonstrate the platform’s unique capabilities and advantages.

“We are delighted to select these internal programs as truly differentiated, next-generation CAR T products for Prescient,” the company’s chief executive officer, Steven Yatomi-Clarke, said.

“Each of these programs represent a tremendous market opportunity” he further added.

“Furthermore, Prescient will continue to seek collaborations with external parties on additional opportunities where OmniCAR can create additional next-generation CAR therapies with partners.”

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Sources:

• ASX Announcement – 18 January 2021
• National Cancer Institute: CAR T-cell therapy
• Prescient Therapeutics: Technology