Biomedicine company has high hopes for future

Earlier this year, Cellular Biomedicine Group Inc, or CBMG, a NASDAQ-listed biomedicine company, announced the acquisition of four novel chimeric antigen receptor T-cells (CAR-T) immuno-oncology technologies and clinical data from the Chinese PLA General Hospital, also known as the 301 Hospital, for the treatment of advanced lung cancer and blood cancer.

CAR-T therapy is considered one of the most promising innovations in cancer immunotherapy in recent years. More than 30 industry-leading companies in the United States have started CAR-T clinical trials or are planning to invest in this area, including Novartis and Juno Therapeutics, which are both pursuing the research of CAR-T to battle hard-to-treat blood cancers.

CAR-T therapy is personalized, derived from the patient's own immune system. A patient's T-cells, which are part of the immune system, are engineered in the lab to be able to recognize, locate and eradicate cancer cells. It is as if the T-cells have been given a homing device enabling them to pinpoint the location of intruder tumor cells, to which they then attach themselves and deploy special enzymes that rupture and eliminate the tumor cell. This is a purely man-made treatment. There is nothing like it in nature.

Han Weidong, the head of the cancer immunotherapy department at the 301 Hospital, is leading CBMG's clinical trials of CAR-T therapy. The company said the results from the Phase I trials studying the safety and efficacy of CAR-T targeting acute lymphoblastic leukemia, large B-cell lymphoma and Hodgkin's lymphoma, have been positive with advanced-stage cancer patients showing signs of long-term remission.

"We are very excited by the progress of our CAR-T research," said Cao Wei, CEO of CBMG. "Later this month at the 18th European Cancer Congress, we will announce the results of our clinical trial studying the effectiveness of EGFR-targeted CAR-T therapy against solid tumors in relapsed and refractory advanced-stage lung cancer. Knowing there are over 3.5 million new patients diagnosed with cancer every year in China alone, including 780,000 lung-cancer patients, we are more determined than ever to develop new and effective treatments against cancer using the most advanced cancer immunology technologies."

In addition to CAR-T technologies, CBMG also owns a cancer vaccine targeting non-small cell lung cancer, which was invented by one of its Scientific Advisory Board members, Scott Antonia, a top expert in the world of immuno-oncology. The company is also studying the potential of combination technologies to increase the efficacy of its vaccine and CAR-T therapies.

Operating in China since 2009, with FDA-standard and CFDA-certified facilities in Shanghai, Wuxi, and Beijing, where its facility is being expanded, CBMG is developing new stem-cell therapies for degenerative conditions and immunological diseases, in addition to immunotherapies for cancer. There have already been positive results in the Phase IIb clinical trials for its proprietary stem-cell therapy for knee osteoarthritis.

"With the required regulatory approval, cooperation with China's most influential hospitals and research institutes, and a seasoned multinational management team, we are very optimistic about the prospect of being able to improve the life of countless families in China and the rest of the world," said Cao.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 09/25/2015 page27)