Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s 5th Annual
Adoptive T Cell Therapy 2: Development
Case Studies and Clinical Progress of CAR, NK, TCR, and TIL
August 30-31, 2018
In 2017, two CAR T cell therapies were approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). With multiple engineered receptors making preclinical impact, many biotech and pharma companies are already entering other clinical trials in a race to get to market.
Has this promising field finally reached a tipping point? Technical considerations and translational challenges relating to cell therapy development, manufacturing practicability, clinical trial approaches, cell quality and persistence, and patient
management remain. Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s 5th Annual Adoptive T Cell Therapy 2: Development conference focuses on the steps needed to deliver CAR, TCR, NK, and TIL therapies to the clinic. Overall,
this event addresses clinical progress, case studies, and the critical components for making adoptive T cell therapy work.
Final Agenda
THURSDAY, August 30
7:45 am Registration & Morning Coffee (Harbor Level)
8:25 Chairperson’s Opening Remarks
Amy Hines, BSN, RN, Director, Collection Network Management, Be The Match BioTherapies
8:30 FEATURED PRESENTATION: A Translational Perspective of Development of Yescarta (Axicabtagene Ciloleucel), a First-in-Class CAR T Cell Product for Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma
Adrian Bot, MD, PhD, Vice President, Translational Sciences, Kite, a Gilead Company
Yescarta (Axicabtagene Ciloleucel) is an anti-CD19 CAR T cell therapy that received approval for treatment of relapsing or refractory DLBCL. This presentation describes key elements of the translational program, correlates of toxicities and durable objective
response, product characteristics, patient conditioning, and importance of tumor microenvironment. It also showcases major lessons learned and challenges in developing cell-based immunotherapies.
9:00 NEW: Selected Poster Presentation: TAC-T, A Novel T Cell Therapy, Co-Opts the Endogenous T Cell Receptor for Effective, Safe, and Persistent Tumor Rejection
Christopher W. Helsen, PhD, Director, R&D and Head, Platform Development, Triumvira Immunologics, Inc.
9:30 Predictors of Response to CD19-Specific CAR T Therapy in B-CLL
Jun Xu, PhD, Associate Director, Product Development Laboratory, Center for Advanced Cellular Therapeutics, Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
To date, it has not been possible to identify patient- or disease-specific factors that predict why some B-CLL patients and not others have such dramatic responses to CAR T cell treatment. We explored the mechanisms associated with clinical response and
lack of response to CAR T therapy, providing evidence for intrinsic T cell fitness in mediating durable anti-tumor responses and long-term complete remissions.
10:00 Coffee Break in the Exhibit Hall (Last Chance for Poster Viewing) (Commonwealth Hall)
10:45 Facing the Challenges of Apheresis Network Management
Amy Hines, BSN, RN, Director, Collection Network Management, Be The Match BioTherapies
For companies working in cell therapies, managing and maintaining your apheresis (cell collection) network is a critical challenge. How do you know which center is best equipped to handle your needs? How do you evaluate their compliance with FDA and international
regulations? Hines discusses the key questions to ask and gives you the tools you’ll need to evaluate centers, secure your supply chain and advance your cell therapy program.
11:15 Solving the Challenges of Large-Scale GMP T Cell Manufacturing
Steven L. Highfill, PhD, Assistant Director, Product Development and Management, Center for Cellular Engineering, Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health
This presentation covers current, ongoing GMP manufacturing efforts at the NIH. Highlights focus on CAR T cell manufacturing and some of the challenges that we had to overcome specifically when using autologous patient-derived starting material. In addition,
I discuss some newer closed-system manufacturing platforms that will make it easier for academic institutes to provide cell therapy options to their patients.
11:45 Sponsored Presentation (Opportunity Available)
12:15 pm Luncheon Presentation (Sponsorship Opportunity Available) or Enjoy Lunch on Your Own
12:45 Session Break
1:40 Chairperson’s Remarks
Adrian Bot, MD, PhD, Vice President, Translational Sciences, Kite, a Gilead Company
1:45 FEATURED PRESENTATION: Stress-Resistant T Cell Therapy for Solid Tumors
Prasad S. Adusumilli, MD, FACS, FCCP, Associate Attending and Deputy Chief, Thoracic Surgery; Head, Solid Tumors
Cell Therapy, Cellular Therapeutics Center; Director, Mesothelioma Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
CAR T cell therapy efficacy in solid tumors is limited by PD-1/PD-L1 pathway. We have shown that exhausted CAR T cells can be rescued by anti-PD1 agents or by a decoy receptor, PD-1 dominant negative receptor cotransduced with CAR T cells to promote functional
persistence. The presentation focuses on cell-intrinsic and extrinsic methods in overcoming checkpoint blockade in cellular immunotherapy.
2:15 TRAP CAR T & Related Cell Therapies: Can Local Delivery Solve Efficacy and Safety Challenges in Solid Tumor Immuno-Oncology?
Janet R. Rea, MSPH, RAC, Senior Vice President, Regulatory, Quality & Clinical Affairs, Atossa Genetics
This presentation reviews cell therapy evolution and challenges. It includes considerations of local delivery options using breast cancer as a model.
2:45 Selected Poster Presentation: Phase I Study of an Adoptive Cellular Immunotherapy by Silencing cbl-b in Autologous Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells
Kathrin Thell, PhD, MSc, In Vivo Scientist, Apeiron Biologics AG
3:15 Refreshment Break (Commonwealth Hall)
3:45 Eutilex’s 4-1BB CTL Adoptive T Cell Therapy: Clinically Safe and First Efficacy in Solid Tumors
Agustin de la Calle, PhD, CBO, Eutilex Co., Ltd.
Eutilex’s 4-1BB CTL therapy is the autologous T cell therapy proven safe in man without treatment-related toxicity and no CRS. Efficacy in hematological cancers and solid tumors: brain, breast, lung, tracheal, pancreatic cancers, CRC and melanoma.
Complete remissions were observed in Hodgkin’s and NK/T cell lymphomas. Phase I safety accepted single dose in terminal patients but relapsed patients became responsive again to further treatments. Leader in COGS: simple outpatient procedure.
4:15 Engineering NK Cells for Enhanced Potency and Persistence
James B. Trager, PhD, Senior Vice President, R&D, Nkarta, Inc.
NK cells form a first line of defense against cancer, and they can be formidable mediators of cytotoxicity and adaptive immunity. Efforts to maximize their potential as cancer therapeutics are hampered by difficulty in expanding NK cells, relatively
short in vivo persistence, and the ability of tumor cells to evade NK recognition. We discuss recent progress in overcoming these barriers to successful therapeutic application of NK cells.
4:45 FEATURED PRESENTATION: Tricked-Out CARs: Next-Generation Approaches to Enhance and Optimize CAR T Cell Function
Benjamin Boyerinas, PhD, Senior Scientist, Immunotherapy, bluebird bio
Genetically engineered CAR T cells can be further engineered to survive and overcome immune evasion mechanisms employed by tumors. We have been developing a novel TGF-β signal conversion platform that provides a T cell supportive signal upon
exposure to TGF-β within the hostile tumor microenvironment. This approach, combined with other methodologies such as gene editing and drug-regulated activation, have the potential to enhance specific activity within solid tumors.
5:15 End of Day
FRIDAY, August 31
7:45 am Registration (Plaza Level)
8:00 Breakout Discussion Groups with Continental Breakfast (Beacon Hill)
This session features discussion groups that are led by a moderator who ensures focused conversations around the key issues listed. Attendees choose to join a specific group, and the small, informal setting facilitates sharing of ideas and active
networking. Details on the topics and moderators are available on the conference website.
9:00 Chairperson’s Remarks
Paul Rennert, PhD, President & CSO, Aleta Biotherapeutics, Inc.
9:05 GOLD: Activation-Induced Payload Delivery for T Cell Therapies
Gus Zeiner, PhD, CSO, Chimera Bioengineering
GOLD is an endogenous post-transcriptional gene regulatory node that couples T cell metabolic states to transgenic payload outputs. Conditional payload expression is induced by signaling through either the native T cell receptor or a CAR. GOLD is
payload-agnostic, and enforces low basal payload expression in resting T cells with a wide dynamic range in activated T cells. GOLD-mediated regulation is non-immunogenic, making GOLD-enabled T cell therapeutics compatible with long-term persistence.
9:35 Developing Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes for the Treatment of Cancer
Maria Fardis, PhD, President & CEO, Iovance Biotherapeutics
Recent FDA approvals of Kymriah and Yescarta show that cell therapies are viable options for treatment of hematological malignancies. Incidence of solid tumors are, however, approximately 10 times higher than hematological malignancies. Available
therapies for solid tumors include chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy. Immunotherapies, such as Anti-PD-1 antibodies, have shown promise, but in many cases, although the overall response rate is not high, discontinuation due to
adverse events remains an issue. Iovance is developing -infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL), a one-time cell therapy treatment that leverages and enhances the body’s natural defenses against certain aggressive solid tumors. TIL is currently
under investigation in several multi-center Phase II clinical trials and preliminary results have demonstrated safety and efficacy in melanoma, head and neck and cervical cancer patients with multiple prior therapies which constitutes unmet
medical need.
10:05 PM21-NK Cells for Cancer Therapy
Robert Igarashi, PhD, President, CytoSen Therapeutics
CytoSen is advancing NK cell therapy for treatment of cancer. CytoSen’s methods for stimulating NK cells with membrane bound (IL21), originally developed by Dr. Dean A. Lee, produces NK cells with high anti-tumor potency and can generate
the highest doses. We plan to leverage our particle-based platform, that has logistical advantages, to pursue clinical studies in leukemia.
10:35 Coffee Break (Plaza Level)
11:00 A TCR-Based Chimeric Antigen Receptor
Even Walseng, PhD, Staff Scientist, Experimental Immunology Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes
of Health; Department of Immunology, Hospital Radiumhospitalet, Institute for Cancer Research, University of Oslo
Although CARs are very potent, the recognition is limited to membrane antigens which represent around 1% of the total proteins expressed, whereas TCRs have the advantage of targeting any peptide resulting from cellular protein degradation. To
expand the horizon of TCR use, we have successfully fused a soluble TCR construct to a CAR-signaling tail. We demonstrate that the TCR-CAR redirection is not restricted to T cells and hence opens therapeutic avenues combing the killing efficiency
of NK cells with the diversified target recognition of TCRs.
11:30 Hijacking CAR19 T Cells to Address Critical Issues in Cell Therapy: Application to Diverse Indications
Paul Rennert, PhD, President & CSO, Aleta Biotherapeutics, Inc.
The Aleta platform addresses critical issues in cell therapy including CAR persistence, antigen escape and antigen heterogeneity, and provides important solutions for treating both hematologic and solid tumors. The key element of our technology
is the use of novel fusion proteins to redirect CAR T specificity. Our lead programs are directed to B cell malignancies, AML and solid tumors.
12:00 Close of Adoptive T Cell Therapy 2: Development