Expanded funding for existing BioCanRx projects
By: Teffer Adjemian
Along with our partners, BioCanRx is pleased to announce our investment of a total of $4,579,988 funding seven continuing projects: five Enabling Studies, one Clinical Trial, and one Clinical, Social & Economic Impact project.
Bringing a product from the lab to the patient requires a great investment of time and resources. BioCanRx is committed to seeing these projects advance to the clinic to bring the best that Canadian research has to offer cancer patients, right here in Canada. With that goal in sight, this generation of funded projects builds on previously funded research, whether we’re Enabling a Catalyst Program, bringing an Enabling Study to Clinical Trial, or expanding the scope of a previous project.
The objectives of the newly funded projects range from developing new, more tolerable white blood cell immunotherapies to decreasing graft-versus-host disease in bone marrow transplant recipients to bringing novel immunotherapies forward for the treatment of rare cancers to Canadian patients. We are proud to work with this generation of scientists as they expand access to novel cancer immunotherapies in Canada.
Enabling Studies are studies designed to move laboratory research forward, preparing it for clinical trial. Of our five Enabling Studies, four build on previous work with BioCanRx: one started as a Catalyst Study, and three progress from previous Enabling Studies. The newly funded Enabling Studies are as follows:
Enabling studies for a first-in-human clinical trial of BCMA-directed TAC-T cells
Jennifer Quizi, OHRI, JS Delisle – CRHRM; Johnathan Bramson – McMaster
This trial explores the potential of a novel form of modified white blood cells for cell therapy called TAC T cells, which promise to be better tolerated by patients, reducing the cost and toxicity of cell therapy and promising longer remission.The team has developed the TACtful Trial, which is led by Canada’s premiere clinical trials group, the Canadian Cancer Trials Group, and will involve clinics in Montreal, Ottawa, Hamilton and Calgary
CTA submission for TITAN-01 (Thymic Treg Immune Therapy AgaiNst GVHD)
Megan Levings, UBC, Kevin Hay, University of Calgary
This study explores the potential of using regulatory T cells (Tregs), immune cells that naturally suppress or rein in immune activity, as a cell therapy to prevent or treat graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in bone marrow transplant recipients. Treg therapy is promising but often prohibitively expensive; this team suggests using Tregs obtained from the thymus gland, which is routinely discarded in children undergoing heart surgery. Having already developed new methods to isolate, grow, freeze, and store large numbers of Tregs from thymuses, the team now moves to the next step: to show they can consistently manufacture Tregs to the required standards of purity and effectiveness. Once this has been achieved, the project will be ready to move forward into clinical trials.
Advancing GMP-Compliant Lentiviral Vector Manufacturing Enhancers for Cost-Effective Production of Anti-Cancer Cell Therapies
JS Diallo, OHRI, Christopher Boddy, University of Ottawa
This Enabling Study aims to enhance the production of Lentivirus (LV), a crucial component in CAR-T cancer therapies. CAR-T therapy shows great promise in treating cancer, but its high cost is largely due to the complex and inefficient processes involved in producing LV. To address this, this team proposes using next-generation Viral Sensitizers (Gen 2.0 VSEs)—simple additives that can significantly boost LV production efficiency. The project has four stages, moving from boosting LV production through proving its safety, establishing safe and efficient production, and developing large scale production to bring the product to market.
Accelerating the Clinical Translation of a Virally Programmed Exosome-Based Cancer Vaccine
Caroline Ilkow, OHRI, John Bell, OHRI: Jennifer Quizi, OHRI
Cancer cells continuously evolve under the pressures of the immune system and their complex tumour environment. This “chameleon-like” behaviour allows cancer cells to evade the immune system, making them difficult to eliminate with a single therapeutic agent. This research team is currently focused on providing a therapeutic that attacks the tumour both virally and by harnessing the immune system through exosomes. This project will advance the cancer therapeutic towards clinical application by testing the immunotherapy on human tumour samples and developing the manufacturing pipeline and product release testing.The end goal of this project is to have a product ready for clinical trial, offering a novel therapeutic approach for patients with aggressive cancers.
Manufacturing Process Development for Metabolically Reprogrammed Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes
Marcus Butler, UHN
This study will test the effectiveness of tumor-infiltrated lymphocytes (TILs) that have been metabolically reprogrammed using a drug, halofuginone, while they are being expanded in vitro to improve their hardiness in vivo. The project focuses on generating the data and information required to submit these metabolically reprogrammed TILs to Health Canada for review. Once approved, the product can move into clinical trials.
Clinical Trials are research projects involving human participants that evaluate the efficacy and/or safety of new therapeutics. They are often the last step before bringing new therapies to market. Our newly funded clinical trial builds on an Enabling Study also funded by BioCanRx.
A Phase I Study of GCAR1, a Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-Cell Therapy for Patients with Selected Relapsed / Refractory GPNMB-Expressing Solid Tumors
Doug Mahoney, University of Calgary; CCTG; Queens
CAR T-cell therapy has been used successfully to treat and even cure refractory blood cancers. Scientists at the University of Calgary in collaboration with numerous BioCanRx-supported investigators and core facilities have created a new CAR T-cell product that attacks different types of cancers in mouse models, including a rare type of sarcoma in adolescents and young adults, breast and kidney cancers. This team will study this CAR T therapy to patients across the country in a clinical trial. The main goal of the clinical trial is to assess this CAR T therapy in patients for safety and anti-tumor activity, with a goal of opening the trial at multiple sites across Canada. This work will establish key collaborations, opening doors for the continuance of novel immunotherapy cancer treatments.
Clinical, social, and economic factors can help or hinder patients in accessing novel therapeutics. Clinical, Social & Economic Impact (CSEI) studies examine these factors to find ways to lower barriers and improve care for cancer patients. Our newly funded CSEI builds on previous BioCanRx-funded CSEI studies.
Excelerator tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) as a treatment for melanoma (TIL-ME)
Dean Fergusson, OHRI, Manoj Lalu- OHRI
Immunotherapy using tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) is one of the most promising treatments for melanoma, the most dangerous skin cancer. This team works with collaborators who are preparing for a clinical trial aimed at bringing TIL therapy to Canada as a treatment for melanoma, using their Excelerator platform to inform this trial, prior to its start, to help address frequently encountered problems. Building on information from previous TIL trials, they will inform the design of a new TIL trial, conduct a prospective study to identify problems related to trial participation, investifate economic factors that may hinder trial completion, and conduct a retrospective cohort study to identify real world eligibility criteria for the proposed clinical trial. This will ultimately improve the efficiency and efficacy of the trial, bringing TIL therapy to Canadian melanoma patients faster and more effectively.
We are proud to present these projects, and look forward to seeing their impact on Canadian cancer care.
