Imugene Partners with JW Therapeutics to Develop First-in-Class CAR-T Combination for Solid Tumors
核心洞察
Imugene (搜索) and JW Therapeutics (搜索) have launched a strategic collaboration to evaluate a novel "mark and kill" immunotherapy combining Imugene's CF33-CD19 oncolytic virus with JW's approved CAR-T therapy Carteyva for solid tumors (搜索).
The partnership aims to overcome a key challenge in oncology by making solid tumors (搜索) targetable by CD19 (搜索) CAR-T cells through engineered CD19 expression on tumor cell surfaces.
The program will progress from preclinical studies to a Phase 1 investigator-initiated trial in China, representing a potential breakthrough in extending CAR-T benefits beyond blood cancers (搜索).
Imugene (搜索) Ltd (ASX:IMU, OTC:IUGNF) has entered a strategic co-development collaboration with JW Therapeutics (搜索) (Shanghai) Co. LTD (HKEX: 2126) to evaluate a novel combination immunotherapy for patients with advanced, hard-to-treat solid tumors (搜索). The partnership represents a significant step toward addressing one of oncology's biggest challenges: making solid tumors targetable by CAR-T cell therapies.
Novel "Mark and Kill" Strategy
The collaboration will investigate the use of Imugene (搜索)'s oncolytic virus CF33-CD19 (onCARlytics) together with JW's CD19 (搜索)-directed autologous CAR-T cell therapy, Carteyva®, in an effort to extend the benefits of CD19 CAR-T technology beyond blood cancers (搜索) into solid tumors (搜索).
The therapeutic concept is based on a first-in-class "mark and kill" strategy: Imugene (搜索)'s CF33-CD19 oncolytic virus is used to infect tumor cells and induce CD19 (搜索) expression on their surface, effectively "marking" them. This engineered CD19 expression is then exploited by CD19-directed CAR-T cells, such as Carteyva®, which can recognize and attack the now CD19-positive solid tumor cells.
Development Program Structure
Under the agreement, the companies will first undertake a series of preclinical in vitro and in vivo studies, before progressing to a Phase 1 investigator-initiated trial in China, to be conducted at leading CAR-T clinical centers. The program will be conducted exclusively in China across leading CAR-T clinical centers.
"This collaboration allows us to validate our onCARlytics platform in combination with an approved autologous CAR-T product," said Imugene (搜索) managing director and CEO Leslie Chong. "We believe Carteyva®, which is already approved in blood cancer, is an ideal choice, and this initiative enables us to generate impactful data efficiently while exploring a breakthrough treatment paradigm for solid tumors (搜索)."
Strategic Advantages
The collaboration brings together JW's established commercial CAR-T infrastructure and experience with Imugene (搜索)'s clinical-stage onCARlytics platform, with the goal of generating robust preclinical and early clinical data to guide further development. For Imugene, the collaboration represents a significant validation of its onCARlytics technology, designed to overcome one of the biggest challenges in oncology.
Both companies see this as a potential step-change in making solid tumors (搜索) targetable by CD19 (搜索) CAR-T therapies, addressing a key challenge in the broader application of cell-based immunotherapies. The partnership provides an efficient and strategically disciplined path to generate the clinical evidence needed to propel the platform forward.
The collaboration sets defined go/no-go decision points and milestones to maintain disciplined capital allocation while preserving strategic flexibility. Both companies emphasized that the collaboration includes defined go/no-go milestones to ensure disciplined capital allocation and preserve optionality for further development.