Curocell receives government funding to expand CAR-T treatment into lupus

Curocell, a local chimeric antigen receptor-T (CAR-T) developer, said it will start developing a next-generation Anti-CD19 CAR-T therapy for treatment-resistant systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) as part of the2024 Multi-Ministerial Regenerative Medicine Technology Development Program.

This initiative, driven by the Ministry of Science and ICT along with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, aims to secure core original technologies in regenerative medicine and link them to clinical applications.

The company has received funding of 1.07 billion won ($789,959) to support clinical trials for systemic lupus using its advanced CAR-T therapy, Anbal-cel (ingredient: anbalcabtagene autoleucel).

Anbal-cel has previously completed clinical trials for relapsed and refractory large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL) patients, showing promising results.

“SLE is an autoimmune disease that has no known cause and is difficult to treat once it begins,” Curocell CEO Kim Gun-soo said. “It is a serious disease that can lead to organ failure and even death in patients who do not respond to existing treatments, and it is estimated that there are approximately 3,000 to 5,000 such patients in Korea.”

The company's strategy is to leverage Anbal-cel's safety and efficacy in lymphoma to expand its indication to lupus, Kim added.

Kim stressed that he believes this strategy will enable rapid commercialization.

“We are committed to expediting the development of new treatments for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, an incurable and life-threatening disease,” Kim said.