NEW YORK – The BC Cancer Foundation in Vancouver, British Columbia, said it aims to raise C$6.8 million (US$4.8 million) to expand its immunotherapy research program, which is focused on developing CAR T-cell therapies.
The funds will support clinical and preclinical research on several CAR T-cell therapies. For example, researchers aim to complete the Phase I/II CLIC-01 clinical trial, in which they're testing an autologous CD19-targeted CAR T-cell therapy, CLIC-1901. In the trial, investigators are evaluating CLIC-1901 in about 60 patients with relapsed or refractory CD19-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma at hospitals in British Columbia, Manitoba, and Ontario. BC Cancer Foundation plans to submit data from this study to Health Canada and seek marketing authorization for CLIC-1901.
BC Cancer Foundation researchers will also launch a new clinical trial, CLIC-02, and test a CD22-targeted autologous CAR T-cell therapy, which was developed to enable treatment for blood cancer patients who do not respond in CLIC-01. Hospitals in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia will enroll patients into CLIC-02.
Researchers hope to also fund preclinical development of CAR T-cell therapies in difficult-to-treat solid tumors such as ovarian and pancreatic cancers. Within the solid tumor program, scientists at BC Cancer Foundation are investigating therapies targeting mesothelin and exploring cell-engineering strategies to enhance CAR T-cell therapy with the goal of launching a new trial, CLIC-03, by 2027.