Immatics, UTHealth to partner on cellular manufacturing for adoptive cellular therapy clinical trials

Immatics US, Inc., a subsidiary of Immatics Biotechnologies GmbH, and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) will collaborate on cellular manufacturing for adoptive cellular therapy (ACT) clinical trials.

Under the recently executed agreement, Immatics will have access to the Evelyn H. Griffin Stem Cell Therapeutics Research Laboratory. The lab is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-registered facility of the Cellular Therapy Core at UTHealth, providing manufacturing of clinical-grade cells in compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) of the FDA. The Griffin cGMP facility operates within the UTHealth Pediatric Regenerative Medicine Program, which is supported by the Texas Emerging Technology Fund. Therapeutic T cell production will be carried out jointly by Immatics manufacturing personnel and UTHealth quality assurance experts. The agreement, effective Sept.1, 2015, will last through the end of 2018, subject to an extension.

The cells manufactured at UTHealth will be used to treat cancer patients with high unmet clinical need in two early-stage clinical trials funded by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) and conducted at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MD Anderson). The trials will use two ACT approaches under the recently announced collaboration between Immatics and MD Anderson. The first, ACTologTM, will use autologous endogenous tumor-targeting T cells. The second, ACTengineTM, will use autologous gene-engineered tumor-targeting T cells in cancer patients.

"This collaborative effort brings significant added value to the rapidly growing biomanufacturing program at UTHealth" said Fabio Triolo, D.d.R., M.Phil., Ph.D., director of the Cellular Therapy Core at UTHealth.

"This is an important milestone that reflects our commitment to building solid relationships with industrial partners," adds Charles S. Cox, Jr., M.D., the George & Cynthia Mitchell Distinguished Chair in Neurosciences and director of the Program in Pediatric Regenerative Medicine at UTHealth.

Source: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth)