Chimeric Therapeutics (ASX:CHM) enters research agreement to advance cell therapy portfolio

Chimeric Therapeutics Limited (ASX:CHM) CEO and Managing Director Jennifer Chow discusses the company's new agreement with Case Western Reserve University.

Lauren Hayes: Today we're talking with Chimeric Therapeutics (ASX:CHM). Market cap of around $34m. The biotech company is a clinical-stage cell therapy company developing a breakthrough cancer cell therapy drug. We're joined today by Jennifer Chow, CEO and Managing Director. Jennifer, welcome back to the network.

Jennifer Chow: Thank you so much. It's great to be back here in Sydney.

Lauren Hayes: You just announced a new sponsored research agreement with Case Western Reserve University. What does that involve?

Jennifer Chow: So, really, this agreement just puts us in a place where we're going to be able to collaborate over the course of the next couple years with Dr Wald and his team at Case to continue to develop further assets that are focused on NK cells. And Dr Wald is the inventor, the scientist that invented our CHM 0201 or our CORE-NK platform. They actually studied that platform already in a Phase 1 clinical trial, and those results were published earlier this year. And what we saw was the endpoints were all met, so there was safety in the trial. The cells were persisting and expanding, meaning that they were staying alive to do their job. And then what we saw was this really incredible activity signal, so particularly in blood cancers. So, what we saw is that there were patients that were treated that had blood cancers — now keep in mind it's a very small study, so there were only three patients — but all three patients actually had a response to the NK cells, and one of those patients had a complete response, which meant that her disease was completely gone at day 100. Now, we now know, based on our ongoing communications with the team at Case Western, that that patient actually continues to be in a complete response to those NK cells, and she's now more than two years out.

Lauren Hayes: Based off the promising outcomes for the first CORE-NK trial, you mentioned that you're starting a new clinical trial. What are you looking for with this?

Jennifer Chow: So, what we decided with this asset is we really wanted to look for a way to deepen that response for patients, and we were able to identify a combination. So, we're using our CORE-NK cells in combination with an agent called vactosertib. That trial has already received approval from the FDA to be able to go forward, and is now ready and has been site activated in Ohio at Case Western University. So, we're excited to see now how these patients do.

Lauren Hayes: So, what do you think makes Chimeric different from other companies working here in Australia on cell therapies?

Jennifer Chow: First and foremost is probably our team. My team has worked on four of the six approved CAR T-cell therapies out there. And then I think the other part of it is really just our portfolio and pipeline. We've developed a portfolio that has seven different novel assets in it, and it uses all of the best types of cell therapy innovation that's being explored today. So, there's sort of that diversification of the pipeline as well that I think differentiates us.

Lauren Hayes: What else should we be looking for from Chimeric in the next six to 12 months?

Jennifer Chow: We've been doing a lot of the foundational work we need to do on our clinical programs over the course of the last six months. And so, what we anticipate is, with that CORE-NK program, we anticipate being actually able to dose the first patient in the new clinical trial, which will be exciting. With Chlorotoxin, which is the agent we were founded on, we anticipate being able to move up in dose levels and finish off the fourth dose level of our Chlorotoxin clinical trial. And then, with our CDH-17 program, we're actually looking to move that program into its first clinical trial.

Lauren Hayes: Thank you, Jennifer, for coming back, and it's always a pleasure having you speak with us.

Jennifer Chow: Thanks so much. It was great to be here.

Source: Finance News Network