Press Release : Antion Biosciences Presents New Data on miCARTM T-cells and Multiplex Gene Engineering Technology at American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT) Annual Meeting

 
   PRESS RELEASE 
 
   Antion Biosciences Presents New Data on miCAR(TM) T-cells and Multiplex 
Gene Engineering Technology at American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy 
(ASGCT) Annual Meeting 
 
 
   -- Novel miCAR(TM) gene constructs demonstrate high gene silencing 
      efficiencies with simultaneous CAR expression to create allogeneic CAR 
      T-cells 
 
   -- Anti-CD19 miCAR(TM) T-cells show efficient silencing of two key 
      inhibitory receptors required for effective allogeneic B-cell lymphoma 
      therapy 
 
 
   Geneva, Switzerland, 12 May 2021 - Antion Biosciences ('Antion' or 'the 
Company'), a Swiss cell and gene engineering company developing highly 
innovative allogeneic therapies to cure diseases with significant unmet 
medical need, today announced additional positive data on its 
development-stage allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T 
cell) therapies created using its novel miCAR(TM) ('miCAR') platform, at 
the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT) Annual Meeting, 
taking place 11-14 May. 
 
   Antion presented data from two independent pre-clinical studies in two 
posters which provide evidence for the use of their proprietary miCAR 
construct in the development of next-generation allogeneic CAR-T cell 
therapies. Together, these two posters demonstrate Antion's multiplex 
cell engineering capabilities, including the expression of a CAR with 
the simultaneous modulated silencing of three relevant genes in the 
creation of a new optimised allogeneic therapy (see below for further 
details). 
 
   Dr. Sven Kili, CEO of Antion Biosciences commented: "I'm excited to be 
sharing these data which demonstrate proof of principle for our 
ground-breaking novel bimodal miCAR gene construct. The next-generation 
allogeneic CD19 CAR-T cells we developed using our novel miCAR gene 
construct, demonstrated simultaneous CAR expression and efficient gene 
silencing of clinically relevant receptors. Our miCAR construct also 
offers efficient multiplex cell engineering in a single step which will 
be critical in overcoming the challenges faced by existing gene editing 
approaches. With these proof of principle studies, Antion's miCAR 
T-cells demonstrate their potential as a promising immunotherapeutic 
solution for a number of disease indications. Furthermore, we believe 
the miCAR platform offers a simpler, more effective and more efficient 
route to allogeneic therapies." 
 
   Poster 1: Abstract #642 -- Development of Anti-CD19 Chimeric Antigen 
Receptor T-Cells with Immune Checkpoint Silencing 
 
   Anti-CD19 CAR-T cells were designed with simultaneous silencing of PD1 
and TIM3, inhibitory receptors known to be relevant in the context of 
relapsed/refractory diffuse B-cell lymphoma. These miCAR-T cells were 
transduced to express a CAR with simultaneous silencing of both PD1 and 
TIM3. The data demonstrates the efficient single-step creation of 
next-generation anti-CD19 CAR-T cells via Antion's novel miCAR gene 
constructs to achieve simultaneous CAR expression and gene silencing of 
relevant inhibitory receptors. This laid the groundwork for the 
development of a fully allogeneic CAR-T cell used in the second study. 
 
   Poster 2: Abstract # 391 -- A Novel Bimodal Gene Construct for Multiplex 
Cell Engineering and the Development of Allogeneic Chimeric Antigen 
Receptor T-Cells 
 
   The second study was conducted to demonstrate the potential of Antion's 
anti-CD19 CAR-T cells as an effective allogeneic treatment option. In 
this study, miCAR constucts were delivered to primary T-cells to assess 
gene silencing while maintaining killing efficiency. The data showed 
complete gene silencing of the T-cell receptor (TCR) and an intended 
75-95% silencing against the inhibitory receptors PD1 and HLA class I 
molecules, while still maintaining effective recognition and killing 
capabilities. The variable silencing of these molecules prevents a host 
immune response which is essential for effective, safe allogeneic 
therapies. These data therefore demonstrate Antion's ability to 'tune' 
it's silencing constructs and further demonstrates the flexibility of 
the miCAR platform to create persisting allogeneic immune effector cells 
with high killing efficiencies. 
 
   Both digital poster presentations are now available to watch by ASGCT 
attendees on the ASGCT website: https://annualmeeting.asgct.org/. The 
posters will also be available after the event on the Antion website: 
https://antion.ch/#/media. 
 
   -- Ends -- 
 
   For further information, please contact: 
 
 
 
 
Antion Biosciences                      Consilium Strategic Communications 
Dr. Sven Kili, Chief Executive Officer  Matthew Neal / Chris Gardner / Ashley Tapp 
 Email: [e-mail]                   Phone: [phone] 
                                         Email: [e-mail] 
 
 
   About Antion Biosciences 
 
   Antion Biosciences SA is a Swiss cell and gene engineering company 
developing highly innovative allogeneic therapies to cure diseases with 
significant unmet medical needs through ground-breaking cell 
engineering. Antion's proprietary Therapeutic Minigene (TMG) and 
miCAR(TM) technologies allow efficient, simultaneous multi-gene 
silencing and gene addition in a single step enabling the creation of 
multimodal treatments that have the ability to substantially enhance 
clinical safety and efficacy. These technologies are developed using a 
unique Smart Data approach to construct design and optimization, 
ensuring maximum efficiency. Antion's pipeline is focused on curing 
challenging cancer indications, HIV and sensory disorders with simple, 
easy to administer cell therapies. Antion has a world-class leadership 
team and advisors and was founded in 2016 by internationally recognized 
scientists and clinicians. 
 
   For more information please visit: https://antion.ch/#/

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 12, 2021 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)