AbClon (174900) said on the 29th that it signed a joint development memorandum of understanding (MOU) with its Turkish partner, TCT Health Technology, encompassing the development of next-generation solid tumor treatments beyond existing blood cancer therapies.
Through this agreement, AbClon plans to accelerate the local Turkish clinical trials of "AT-101," a CD19-targeting chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy for blood cancer that it licensed out in March last year. AT-101 is currently in the final stage of recruiting patients for its domestic Phase 2 trial in Korea.
AbClon will also expand the scope of cooperation in developing solid tumor treatments, including breast cancer, centered on its switchable CAR-T (zCAR-T) therapy "AT-501." A switchable CAR-T is a therapy in which, instead of CAR-T cells directly recognizing cancer cells, a switch substance—a control device that can regulate the activity of CAR-T cells—is added. Because the targeted protein can be changed by swapping the switch substance, it offers the advantage of being easily expandable to various indications.
The two companies will further extend their joint development scope to "In-vivo CAR-T," a next-generation CAR-T therapy. Unlike conventional CAR-T, In-vivo CAR-T is a treatment that delivers the genetic information for attacking cancer cells directly to T-cells within the body, inducing CAR-T cells to be generated inside the patient's body.
The two companies have also established infrastructure for the practical development and production of CAR-T therapies. Lee Jong-seo, CEO of AbClon, along with other officials from both companies, personally visited the advanced clinical and CAR-T manufacturing facilities of Akdeniz University located in Antalya, southern Turkey, and completed a comprehensive on-site inspection. AbClon and TCT plan to actively utilize the university's excellent infrastructure to pursue rapid and diverse joint clinical trials for the next-generation CAR-T therapies to be developed.
CEO Lee said, "In the final stage of recruiting patients for the domestic Phase 2 trial, we have signed an agreement that expands the successful AT-101 partnership into the areas of solid tumor treatments and In-vivo CAR-T," adding, "Akdeniz University's advanced manufacturing facilities and TCT's strong clinical infrastructure will serve as a catalyst for further expansion into Europe and the Middle East."
