CAR-T Cell Therapy - Major Step Towards New Therapy Approval

Release Date: 16-Sep-2019

A new CAR-T cell therapy derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has been transferred to Takeda from the Centre of iPS Research and Application (CiRA) at Kyoto University for the initiation of the phase I of clinical testing. This deal involves that the rights of commercialization shall retain by the Takeda and CiRA will receives the royalties for every achievements.

It is a new form of CAR T cell therapy, which is different from the previous Autologus Car T cell therapies. In the first generation Car-t cell therapy, the researcher collects the blood and isolates the T-cells. After that, modification of T-cell is performed and reintroduce into the body to eliminate the cancer. This process is coistly and time consuming.

The iPSC-derived CAR T-cell product (iCART) is a new type of CAR T-cell therapy, which is based on the use of a cell bank of identical master IPS cells. These cells are fully matured cells that can be reprogrammed back to a stem cell state, where they are able to grow into any type of cell. These cells are used in the form of allogeneic CAR andndash;T cell therapy and the cell produced is used in treatment of the cancer. 

The iCART program was developed by Shin Kaneko, MD, PhD, a researcher at CiRA and a Takeda advisor. According to shin Kaneko, the iCART program validates the T-CiRA collaboration by applying iPSC technology. The main aim is to generate new methods of discovering new drugs forming a bridge to transfer promising programs to Takeda to accelerate them toward clinical development and therapeutic use.

T-CiRA was initiated in 2015 as a 10-year research collaboration program between Takeda and CiRA. The program is initiated and performed under the direction of Yamanaka Takeda. The program is assisting several projects led by researchers at CiRA and other programs with an aim of developing front-line clinical applications of IPS cells in immuno-oncology, heart disease, diabetes, neuro-psychiatric disorders, and incurable muscle diseases.