MAGEA3 T cell therapy safe, leads to responses in NCI study

In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers at NIH's NCI and colleagues reported that a melanoma-associated antigen A3 (MAGEA3)-targeted T cell receptor (TCR) T cell therapy from Kite Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:KITE) led to four objective responses while avoiding off-target toxicity among 17 patients with metastatic solid tumors.

Kite is also developing KITE-718, a T cell therapy engineered to express TCRs targeting MAGEA3 and MAGEA6 that is in Phase I testing to treat advanced cancers. The company said its KITE-718 program “is built upon” the proof-of-concept NCI study...