Chimeric plans final dose in brain cancer trial

Chimeric Therapeutics says all patients in a third cohort of its phase 1A CHM 1101 cell therapy clinical trial have advanced past the 28-day follow-up period without experiencing dose-limiting toxicities.

In December the company completed the planned medicating of its third dose cohort as part of its study evaluating the safety of its CHM 1101 cell therapy to treat glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma is a rare but deadly aggressive cancer that can occur in the spinal cord or brain. The objectives of the study are to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the treatment and establish recommended dosing for a phase 2 trial.

Chimeric says it is aiming to cure cancer, not simply slow its progress, by developing cutting-edge cell therapy treatments aimed at killing the molecules that drive cancer cells and promote metastases.

One killing agent it uses is CAR T or chimeric antigen receptor T-cell — a specially altered T cell that is naturally part of the immune system.

CHM 1101 is one product in the Chimeric’s CAR T therapy pipeline that utilises a 36-amino acid peptide called chlorotoxin — derived from deathstalker scorpion venom —in its tumour targeting.

The clinical trial is taking place at City of Hope, one of the largest cancer research and treatment organisations in the United States. Chimeric has licenced the exclusive global rights to intellectual property covering the chlorotoxin CAR-T cells from City of Hope.

Following the success of the third dose clinical trial, the company plans to now advance to the fourth and final dose cohort.

Chimeric has a number of clinical trials in the works and last week dosed its first patient in its phase 1B trial that is the first of its kind to test the company’s natural killer, or “NK” cells in combination with chemical compound Vactosertib in patients with advanced colorectal and blood cancers. The trial will be based on the company’s CHM 0201 off-the-shelf cell platform that successfully demonstrated safety and efficacy during clinical trials completed at the Seidman Cancer Centre in Ohio last year.

The objective of the phase 1B study is to build on the responses seen in the initial CORE NK phase 1A clinical trial by adding Vactosertib, a chemical compound with the potential to suppress the growth of certain tumours.

Using the CHM 0201 platform, Chimeric has initiated development of four new next generation NK treatments with plans for phase 1 clinical trials in solid tumours and blood cancer.

The phase 1B trial is currently funded without financial support from Chimeric Therapeutics.

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