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WindMIL Therapeutics Announces Cancer Immunotherapy Pre-Clinical Research Collaboration With University Of Pennsylvania

By: Press Release Reporter; Published: February 5, 2020 @ 7:00 am | Comments Disabled

Baltimore, MD and Philadelphia, PA (Press Release) – WindMIL Thera­peutics, a clin­i­cal-stage com­pany devel­op­ing mar­row-infiltrating lym­pho­cytes (MILs™) for cancer immuno­therapy, today announced a col­lab­o­rative pre-clinical re­search part­ner­ship with University of Pennsylvania (Penn) to explore novel chi­meric an­ti­gen re­cep­tor (CAR)-engineered MILs (CAR-MILs™) in hema­to­logical and solid tumor model settings. The col­lab­o­ration will leverage WindMIL’s and Penn’s re­spec­tive­ ex­per­tise to conduct pre-clinical comparisons of the char­ac­ter­istics and functionality of CAR-T and CAR-MIL prod­ucts.

“Today marks an im­por­tant mile­stone in ad­vanc­ing gene-modified MILs to­ward the clinic while further build­ing on WindMIL’s foundational work to de­vel­op MILs as a novel class of au­tol­o­gous cell ther­a­pies for cancer immuno­therapy,” said Don Hayden, chairman and chief exec­u­tive officer of WindMIL. “We are ex­cited to enter into this col­lab­o­ration with the outstanding re­search team at the University of Pennsylvania.”

Both parties will actively com­mit resources and pro­pri­e­tary science to de­vel­op and pre­clin­i­cally test these cell ther­apy treat­ments. The efforts in the University of Pennsylvania will be led by re­searchers and scientists from the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies in the Abramson Cancer Center and the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine of the Perelman School of Medicine.

“Preclinical data to date dem­onstrate that CAR-MILs have several ad­van­tages over CARs devel­oped from periph­eral blood lym­pho­cytes,” said Kimberly Noonan, Ph.D., M.P.H., exec­u­tive vice pres­i­dent, chief scientific officer and co-founder of WindMIL Thera­peutics. “These ad­van­tages, together with the in­her­ent antitumor properties of MILs, lead us to believe that CAR-MILs have the poten­tial to be a more potent and effective option for cancer patients. We look for­ward to more fully exploring this re­search path­way with our partners at Penn.”

About Marrow-Infiltrating Lymphocytes (MILs™)

Marrow-infiltrating lym­pho­cytes (MILs™) are devel­oped through a pro­pri­e­tary process to activate and ex­pand memory T cells found in the bone mar­row into MILs. Distinguishing features of bone mar­row T cells in­clude their memory pheno­type, in­her­ent tumor an­ti­gen-specificity, higher CD8:CD4 ratio and ability to persist long term when com­pared to periph­eral blood lym­pho­cytes. Because memory T cells in bone mar­row occur as a result of the immune sys­tem’s recognition of tumor an­ti­gens, MILs are specifically suited for adoptive cellular immuno­therapy and directly eradicate or facilitate eradication of each patient’s unique cancer. MILs are being in­ves­ti­gated in clin­i­cal studies as ‘non gene-modified’ thera­peutics and are under devel­op­ment as an alter­na­tive and poten­tially superior cell source to periph­eral blood T cells for CAR-T ther­apy (CAR-MILs™). WindMIL believes that the unique aspects of the re­spec­tive­ profiles of MILs and CAR-MILs position them in distinct areas of the on­col­ogy treat­ment landscape. WindMIL is cur­rently studying the use of MILs to treat patients with multiple myeloma, non-small cell lung cancer, squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, and glio­blas­toma, and plans to ex­pand into other solid tumors. To date, more than 100 patients have re­ceived treat­ment with MILs and ongoing studies con­tinue to build upon the fa­vor­able safety profile and promising efficacy seen in early devel­op­ment.

About WindMIL Thera­peutics

WindMIL Thera­peutics is a clin­i­cal-stage com­pany devel­op­ing a novel class of au­tol­o­gous cell ther­a­pies based on mar­row-infiltrating lym­pho­cytes (MILs™) for cancer immuno­therapy. As the leader in bone mar­row-derived T cell ther­a­pies, WindMIL translates novel insights in bone mar­row immunology into life-saving cancer immuno­therapeutics for patients. The com­pany’s pro­pri­e­tary process to activate and ex­pand these cells offers unique immuno­therapeutic ad­van­tages, in­clud­ing in­her­ent tumor-specificity, high cytotoxic poten­tial and long persistence. For more in­for­ma­tion, please visit: https://windmiltx.com.

Source: WindMIL Thera­peutics.


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