Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is the most common type of leukaemia globally and can rarely be cured. Despite recent advances, the efficacy of promising autologous T cell-based therapies, such as CAR-T technology and bi-/tri-specific antibodies, has been disappointing. This stems from a T cell dysfunction in this disease setting: altered T cell skewing, impaired metabolic plasticity, and disrupted T-cell functioning.
We identified an improved method to activate T cells, which can overcome T cell dysfunction and stimulate an immune response. Prof. Kater has demonstrated superiorly activated T-cells and improved T-cell proliferation via this method.
CATCH will explore the technical and commercial feasibility of the new activation pathway-mediated T-cell activation, through two autologous T-cell technologies – CAR-T and tri-specific antibody technology. These therapeutic strategies have the potential to target and kill CLL cells more effectively, achieve higher remission rates, enable new combination treatments, and provide potentially curative treatments for CLL patients.
To reach proof-of-concept stage, in this project we will:
1) Validate the efficacy of two adapted applications (CAR-T, tri-specific antibody) by achieving T-cell activation and killing target cells in in-vitro CLL samples and live specimens.
2) Perform a thorough IP landscape analysis, establish Freedom-to-Operate, and define an IP strategy.
3) Engage with key stakeholders to gather feedback and advise from key perspectives (patient, clinical, industry), conduct market research to discover potential customers/industrial partners, analyse competitors and identify a feasible roadmap to commercialisation.
4) Formulate a detailed business case to guide the commercialisation of CATCH.
