Crafting CAR Tregs

TxCell S.A. (Euronext:TXCL) thinks it has cracked the code on building CAR Tregs without running into the manufacturing challenges that can compromise the cells’ immunosuppressive function. The company presented data on their manufacturing process at the CAR-TCR Summit Europe meeting last month and plans to submit an IND or clinical trial application (CTA) this year.

Like CAR T cells for cancer, CAR Tregs incorporate a CAR that triggers T cell activation in response to a disease-associated antigen. However, unlike therapies such as Yescarta axicabtagene ciloleucel from the Kite Pharma Inc. unit of Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) and Kymriah tisagenlecleucel from Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS; SIX:NOVN), which are effector T cells that launch an immune response against tumors, TxCell is developing CAR Tregs that are immunosuppressive to treat chronic rejection of solid organ transplantation...