Genexine and NeoImmuneTech said Monday it has presented the results of its clinical trial of a combination treatment of HyLeukin-7, an immunotherapeutic drug candidate, and Universal CAR-T (UCART), at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2018.

According to the company, the presentation showed that HyLeukin-7 could potentiate and sustain the activity of Universal CAR-T in treating B-cell lymphoma and T-cell lymphoma.

NeoImmuneTech and the Washington University School of Medicine have conducted two studies to evaluate the effects of UCART combined with HyLeukin-7, a continuous T cell amplifier, on the proliferation, differentiation, and tumor-killing capacity of UCART in B-cell lymphoma and T-cell lymphoma.

The studies used a mouse model with a patient-morbid xenograft (PDX) derived from a patient with Sézary syndrome, a skin T-cell lymphoma with no effective treatment and fast progression and high mortality rate.

As a result, HyLeukin-7 enhanced the proliferation, differentiation and tumor-killing capacity of UCART in both tumors, resulting in a dramatic increase in survival rates in mouse models.

“The results of this study suggest the possibility of clinical application of combination treatment of HyLeukin-7 to various cancers,” the company said. “Also, we expect to develop an innovative combination treatment method that can bring the CAR-T activity to an optimal state in the body and convert the non-responders, who have little effect with CAR-T treatment, into responders.”

NeoImmuneTech CEO Yang Se-hwan, also said, “HyLeukin-7, developed jointly by Genexine and NeoImmuneTech, strengthens the immune system against external and internal antigens and can be expected to have therapeutic effects in patients with weak or poor numbers of T cells. This study, from a lymphoma model, showed that the drug could potentiate and sustain the efficacy of T cell therapies such as CAR-T.”

The high efficacy of UCART and HyLeukin-7 combination therapy is encouraging in that it can contribute to the development of highly efficient generic CAR-T therapies, one of the primary goals of anti-cancer immunotherapeutic drug developers, he added.