Prescient joins world-leader in cell and gene therapy to accelerate OmniCAR platform – Stockhead

Prescient has joined forces with Thermo Fisher Scientific for a research program aiming to advance development of its next-generation cellular therapies.

Clinical stage oncology companyPrescient Therapeutics (ASX:PTX) has signed an agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific to accelerate development and commercialisation of a highly scalable version of its game-changing OmniCAR cell therapy platform.

Thermo Fisher is a world leader in cell and gene technologies. The agreements development plan will evaluate the potential of using automated, closed cell therapy solutions to develop a novel process of manufacturing cell therapies on Prescients OmniCAR platform using non-viral methods.

Prescient is working to develop personalised therapies to treat cancer, with the deal leveraging Thermo Fishers expertise in cell and gene therapy to create a scalable cell therapy platform. The work program aims to develop the next generation OmniCAR cells that can be produced with greater efficiency, lower costs and unmatched reproducibility.

Its been a week of positive news for Prescient, which also announced it had entered a manufacturing servicesdeal with specialist cell therapy manufacturer, Q-Gen Cell Therapeutics (Q-Gen), to produce itsOmniCAR cell lines for upcoming clinical trials.

All CAR-T therapies approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) so far, and most CAR-T therapies in development, employ viral vectors to insert genetic material into immune cells to create chimeric antigen receptors (CARs)-expressing immune cells.

Viral vectors are expensive, relatively inefficient, and time consuming to develop, often representing a key bottleneck and major cost contributor to CAR-T manufacturing.

Viral transduction processes are highly complex manual processes which are challenging for tech transfer, labour intensive and prone to operator variations, therefore producing highly variable and unpredictable results.

The work plan under this agreement will focus on creating OmniCAR cells with Thermo Fishers portfolio of proprietary equipment and specialised cell and gene therapy manufacturing expertise.

A key Prescient objective is to create a second generation of the OmniCAR platform by being able to manufacture OmniCAR cells with greater efficiency and lower costs that are suitable for tech transfer to GMP-licensed contract development and manufacturing organisations globally.

This in turn feeds into Prescients vision of decentralised manufacturing, which is best suited for multi-centre treatments, both during development and eventually for commercial roll-out.

The substantial research is forecast to take around 12 months to complete, with Prescient receiving full ownership of outcomes from the collaboration. Prescient is not required to make any cash contribution to the project.

Prescient believes that the agreement provides an opportunity for future development of other gene edits for incorporation into further-enhanced OmniCAR cell therapies to address exhaustion and immune suppression.

Prescient Managing Director and CEO Steven Yatomi-Clarke said the company elected to develop its first internal OmniCAR programs using the validated approach of lentiviral transduction.

However, he said it had always had an eye on the future for any emerging advantages that can be incorporated into its programs whilst mitigating development risk.

We are optimistic that this agreement with Thermo Fisher will accelerate the development of the OmniCAR platform to the point where one or more of Prescients internal OmniCAR programs can incorporate the advancements this agreement produces, he said.

Importantly, the agreement should result in an improved product and process that can be decentralised and therefore scaled with high efficiency and reproducibility.

Such innovation is crucial in the clinical and eventual commercial rollout of OmniCAR products and will facilitate third-party development of OmniCAR and the companys ultimate vision of a patient-centric treatment ecosystem.

Join Prescient Therapeutics Managing Director and CEO Steven Yatomi-Clarke for an investor briefing on Tuesday 23rd August at 12pm (AEST). Register for the session here.

This article was developed in collaboration with Prescient Therapeutics, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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Prescient joins world-leader in cell and gene therapy to accelerate OmniCAR platform - Stockhead