Celyad has started on Thursday its Therapeutic Immunotherapy with NKR-2 (THINK) trial in Belgium with the first patient giving blood.
The first CAR-T NKR-2 dose level infusion is expected in January 2017.
To remind, THINK trial is an open-label multi-national Phase Ib study to assess the safety and clinical activity of multiple administrations of autologous CAR-T NKR-2 cells in seven refractory cancers.
Ceylad did not say when the trial will be expanded to the U.S., however Christian Homsy, CEO of Celyad said that the company is expecting to expand the trial to U.S.-based institutions.
Dr. Frédéric Lehmann, VP Clinical Development & Medical Affairs at Celyad: “This is an important moment for Celyad. The THINK trial is aimed to demonstrate that CAR-T NKR-2 cells can deeply transform the way we treat cancer patients. The team keeps on showing its awe-inspiring ability to deliver in Research and Development, and the Company has now reached a cardinal inflection point to emerge as a key player in the CAR-T space.”
About Celyad’s NKR-T Cell Platform
Celyad is developing a unique CAR-T cell platform, using Natural Killer Receptor (NKR) transduced on to T lymphocytes. The platform targets a wide range of solid and hematological tumors. Unlike traditional CAR-T cell therapy, which target only one tumor antigen, Natural Killer (NK) cell receptors enable a single receptor to recognize multiple tumor antigens.