trending Market Intelligence /marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/clxnkef7ws4wfueu8yz5hg2 content esgSubNav
In This List

Sorrento CAR-T cell therapy showed positive effects in phase 1b cancer trial

Blog

A Pharmaceutical Company Capitalizes on M&A Activity with Brokerage Research

Blog

2021 Year in Review: Highlighting Key Investment Banking Trends

Blog

Insight Weekly: US stock performance; banks' M&A risk; COVID-19 vaccine makers' earnings

Blog

Global M&A By the Numbers: Q3 2021


Sorrento CAR-T cell therapy showed positive effects in phase 1b cancer trial

Sorrento Therapeutics Inc. said its anti-carcinoembryonic antigen CAR-T cell therapy showed positive effects in an ongoing trial among certain patients with cancers that had spread to the liver.

Carcinoembryonic antigen, or CEA, is a type of protein normally found in very low levels in the blood, with can be in high levels in patients with certain cancers. Chimeric antigen receptor T cell, or CAR-T cell, therapy works by infusing a patient with engineered versions of their own cells designed to attack cancer cells.

The main goal of the phase 1b trial, called Hepatic ImmunoTherapy for Metastases-Surefire, was to determine the safety of Sorrento's anti-CEA CAR-T cells that were administered regionally through an artery that supplies blood to the liver using Surefire Medical Inc.'s pressure directed microvalve infusion technology.

Though the trial is still enrolling, three patients have completed the treatments. Among the three, two patients have stage IV pancreatic cancer and one has colorectal cancer. All of the patients were heavily pre-treated.

SNL Image

Based on the initial results, the therapy was well-tolerated and reduced the CEA levels in all patients. Following the treatment, one of the pancreatic cancer patients was alive at seven months without the disease worsening, while the colorectal cancer patient was alive at 4.8 months into the trial.

In addition, one patient with stage IV pancreatic cancer showed no signs of cancer in the liver 11 months after receiving three infusions of the CAR T-cell therapy.

Sorrento plans to conduct studies combining its CAR-T programs, including anti-CEA CAR-T, with its other assets like immuno-oncology checkpoint antibodies and Seprehvir, an oncolytic virus designed to destroy tumor cells without damaging healthy cells, said Sorrento Chief Medical Officer and TNK Therapeutics President Jerome Zeldis.

The combination trials of anti-CEA CAR-T and Seprehvir is expected to begin in the second half of 2018, Zeldis added.

TNK Therapeutics is a unit of Sorrento Therapeutics that is focused on the development and commercialization of cellular therapies. Surefire Medical develops infusion technologies that help physicians deliver therapy deeper into liver tumors while protecting healthy tissue.