WUGEN Presents Updated Preclinical Data on Novel Allogeneic CAR-T Platform at ASH Annual Meeting

ST. LOUIS, Dec. 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- WUGEN Inc., a biotechnology company developing a novel universal allogeneic CAR-T therapy platform, today announced updated preclinical data that validates its off-the-shelf fratricide-resistant CAR-T platform. The data from this study, which was led by researchers from the Washington University in St. Louis, demonstrated efficacy in preclinical mouse models and was presented in an oral and poster presentation at the 60th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition in San Diego.

"An off-the-shelf allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy could be a game changer for the treatment of T-cell cancers," says John McKearn, Ph.D., CEO and President of WUGEN. "These presentations provide insight into how to solve the challenges and limitations in current CAR-T therapies. The compelling findings advance our understanding of how to improve patient outcomes for those with T cell malignancies."

Modeling Sézary Syndrome for Immunophenotyping and Anti-Tumor Effect of UCART and Long Acting Interleukin-7 Combination Therapy (Abstract #340)

Overview and results, presented by Karl W. Staser, Ph.D., Washington University of St. Louis, include:

• These preclinical data validate the use of allogeneic "off-the-shelf" adoptive immunotherapy for the treatment of Sézary syndrome (SS), while demonstrating dramatic enhancement of CAR-T efficacy using a dose-adjustable, clinic-ready long-acting interleukin-7 agonist (NT-I7) given in an adjuvant setting.
• UCART2-treated mice showed dramatically reduced tumor burden as compared to control UCART19-treated mice.
• UCART2-treated mice survived ~40 days as compared to ~21 days in mice treated with UCART19. Remarkably, UCART2-treated mice receiving NT-I7 showed complete tumor clearance with 100% of UCART2- and NT-I7-treated mice surviving beyond 150 days.
• WUGEN plans to initiate IND-enabling studies of UCART2.

A Long-Acting Pharmacological Grade Interleukin-7 Molecule Logarithmically Accelerates UCART Proliferation, Differentiation, and Tumor Killing (Abstract #2199)

Overview and results, presented by Matt L. Cooper, Ph.D., Washington University of St. Louis, include:

• Suboptimal CAR-T persistence and tumor killing permit tumor cell escape and, ultimately, disease relapse in current clinical practice. NT-I7 was demonstrated to dramatically enhance gene modified T-cell proliferation, persistence and tumor killing in vivo, resulting in enhanced survival, providing a tunable clinic-ready adjuvant for reversing suboptimal CAR-T activity in vivo.
• Mice treated with UCART19 alone survived 33 days, mice treated with UCART19 and NT-I7 were alive at 80 days, with no mouse showing signs of graft vs. host disease (p<0.0001, UCART19+NT-I7 vs. UCART19).
• Analyses of the blood, bone marrow, and spleens of mice revealed an up to ~8000-fold increase in UCART19 cells in NT-I7-treated mice four weeks post UCART19 infusion.

About WUGEN

WUGEN Inc. is a biotechnology company developing a novel CAR-T therapy platform including an "off-the-shelf" fratricide-resistant CAR-T cell therapy for T-cell malignancies. WUGEN's state-of-the-art gene editing technologies and cutting-edge CAR-T cell therapy address some of the challenges that have limited the clinical development of allogeneic CAR-T cells. WUGEN was founded based on technology licensed from Washington University in St. Louis. For more information please visit www.wugen.com.

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SOURCE WUGEN Inc.

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