Researchers at CHA Bundang Hospital have confirmed the efficacy of CBT101, a natural killer (NK) immune cell therapy cultivated from a patient's blood, in treating recurrent glioblastoma.
The team, led by Professors Cho Joong-ki and Lim Jae-joon, found that CBT101 prolonged the average survival time in patients with recurrent glioblastoma after administering the treatment to 14 patients suffering from recurrent glioblastoma.
After the therapy administration, six patients survived for more than two years, and the treatment maintained its efficacy even after treatment. The team confirmed five out of 14 patients had progression-free survival (PFS) of two to seven years.
It also affirmed that the immune cell therapy, activated through blood vessels, moved around the tumor, enhanced the immune response, and removed abnormal cancer cells.
Recurrent glioblastoma, a brain tumor type, is refractory cancer with an average survival time of only six to eight months because conventional treatments do not work well. The cancer progresses quickly.
CBT101, developed by CHA Biotech, is an immune cell therapy made by extracting NK cells from the patient's blood and increasing them in vitro. According to the company, the treatment enhances the anticancer effect by boosting NK cell proliferation by about 2000 times and improves NK cell activity.
The treatment has received orphan drug designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treating malignant glioblastoma in September last year. CHA Bundang Hospital is conducting a phase 1 clinical trial for various solid cancer patients in Korea.
"It is very meaningful to confirm the possibility of NK immune cell therapy for recurrent glioblastoma through clinical studies," Professor Cho said. "We will do our best to accelerate the development of glioblastoma treatment through continuous research."
CHA Biotech CEO Oh Sang-hoon also said, "Through the clinical study, the company has confirmed the therapeutic effect of CBT101 in patients with glioblastoma."
The company will do its best to accelerate commercialization through rapid clinical progress, he added.