TxCell, a developer of cellular immunotherapies based on regulatory T cells (Tregs) for inflammation, autoimmunity and transplantation, today announces it has exercised its exclusive option to in-license the intellectual property rights of one of its academic partners, the University of British Columbia (UBC), onto the HLA-A2 CAR-Treg program.
This program, named TX200 in TxCell’s portfolio, should soon be tested in human in the prevention of chronic transplant rejection. A first clinical trial application (“CTA”) is expected to be actioned in Europe in the first part of 2019.
The product originated in the laboratories of Dr. Megan Levings, UBC in Vancouver, Canada, who established the first preclinical proof of concept with human HLA-A2-specific CAR-Treg cells in a preclinical model of GvHD[1].
TxCell and UBC have been jointly developing this specific program from October 2016 (press release dated October 19, 2016). As licensee, TxCell will have the exclusive rights to develop and later commercialize TX200. Terms and conditions of the license were not disclosed.