The studies will be led by three Stanford researchers, Robert Waymouth, Paul Wender, and Ronald Levy, who will investigate nucleic acid delivery systems to produce allogeneic CAR T therapies.
In particular, this will involve researching how to deliver intracellular RNA or DNA into lymphocytes, including T-cells. It is thought that this could provide an alternative to current methods of using nanoparticles and viral vectors to deliver nucleic acid.
The research collaboration will see the Stanford professors develop and design the tools for ex vivo cell engineering for Allogene, the latter company said in a statement.
David Chang, CEO of Allogene, said, “We believe the combination of Allogene’s strong technical expertise in designing AlloCAR T therapies combined with Stanford’s gene delivery technology could lead to the creation of new therapies that have the potential to make a meaningful difference in the lives of many patients.”
Allogene is currently moving ahead with plans to ready itself for commercial entrance of its allogeneic CAR-T therapies, after entering a lease agreement to a site that will house its manufacturing process.
Allogene is currently recruiting clinical trial participants for its Phase I/II trial, studying ALLO-501 and ALLO-647 as a treatment for adult patients with relapsed/refractory large B-cell or follicular lymphoma.
