Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Enters into Research Collaboration with Leiden University Medical Center to Discover Natural High-Affinity TCRs
“We are enthusiastic about the potential of TCRs that incorporate our switch technology to produce a targeted, potent and controlled attack on certain cancers,” said
Tom Farrell, President and Chief Executive
Officer of
Mirjam Heemskerk and her group
from the
Under terms of the new collaboration, Bellicum will provide financial support to LUMC over a three-year term in exchange for the right to exclusively license any high-affinity TCRs discovered under the agreement.
TCRs are engineered T cells that become activated in the presence of cancer cells containing a target antigen. Bellicum’s first TCR product candidate, BPX-701 targeting PRAME, is expected to enter Phase 1/2 clinical trials in mid-2016 to treat refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). BPX-701 was licensed from Leiden in 2015 and incorporates Bellicum’s proprietary safety mechanism, CaspaCIDe®, for improved control over the cells.
About
Bellicum is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing cellular immunotherapies for cancers and orphan inherited blood disorders. Bellicum is using its proprietary Chemical Induction of Dimerization (CID) technology platform to engineer and control components of the immune system. Bellicum is developing next-generation product candidates in some of the most important areas of cellular immunotherapy, including hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), and CAR T and TCR cell therapies. More information can be found at www.bellicum.com.
About
As a center of medical innovations, the
Mirjam
Heemskerk and her group from the department of Hematology of the LUMC,
has led to the discovery of TCRs with high specificity for tumor cells
that now can be explored in clinical studies. The research of the
Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes
of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Bellicum may, in some cases, use terms such as
"predicts," "believes," "potential," "proposed," "continue," “designed,”
"estimates," "anticipates," "expects," "plans," "intends," "may,"
"could," "might," "will," "should" or other words that convey
uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include
statements regarding our intentions, beliefs, projections, outlook,
analyses or current expectations concerning, among other things: our
research and development activities relating to TCRs and to CaspaCIDe;
the success of our collaboration with LUMC; the effectiveness of
BPX-701, its possible range of application and potential curative
effects and safety in the treatment of diseases including as compared to
other treatment options and competitive therapies; the timing and
success of our clinical trials; the timing of regulatory filings for
BPX-701; our research and development activities relating to BPX-701;
and the potential applications of our product candidate BPX-701. Various
factors may cause differences between Bellicum’s expectations and actual
results as discussed in greater detail under the heading “Risk Factors”
in Bellicum’s filings with the
For contact with the
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