How Adaptimmune's T-Cell Therapy Development Pipeline Became a Commercialisation Success Story
Adaptimmune has become a leading example of a successful biotech in recent years following the success of its afami-cel immunotherapeutic.
Having started out with a single project in 2014, the company has expanded their pipeline and research framework, and now covers a range of different approaches in T-cell receptor (TCR) therapy.
The company has developed a proprietary T-cell receptor (TCR) platform to identify cancer targets, as well as to find and genetically engineer TCRs to recognise and attack these targets.
At present, Adaptimmune are working on a Biologics Licence Application (BLA) for afami-cel, its first-gen engineered TCR T-cell therapy for the treatment of patients with synovial sarcoma – a cancer that originates in soft tissue, such as muscles or ligaments.
Adrian Rawcliffe, Adaptimmune's Chief Executive Officer, said in a press release that the BLA submission for afami-cell was going well, with alignment on key de-risking focuses.
“We have completed most of the wet work and we are now focused on writing and publishing the remaining sections to complete Part 3 of this submission for approval of the first engineered T-cell therapy for a solid tumor indication,” said Rawcliffe.
He added that Adaptimmune had set themselves up to make data-driven portfolio decisions to bring medicines to market that they believed could make a real difference for people with cancer.
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In addition to afami-cel, Adaptimmune is also developing next-generation cell therapies; one such medicine currently closing out a Phase I clinical trial is ADP-A2AFP for patients with liver cancer.
Adaptimmune started life as a spinoff of a former company established to pioneer T-cell receptor technology from Oxford University in 2014.
After establishing R&D infrastructure, Adaptimmune developed a strategic collaboration with GSK and embarked on a highly successful journey towards developing cancer immunotherapy treatments.
The success seen by afami-cel shows the path that a biotech can pursue if it manages to pioneer a therapeutic through the clinical trial gauntlet without exhausting its cash runway.
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