Senti Streamline Their CAR-NK Cell Therapy Program to Focus on Acute Myeloid Leukaemia
Senti Biosciences has moved one of its drug candidates to the backburner to focus on two remaining CAR-NK cell therapy programs.
The biotech company, based in San Francisco, has shelved the development of SENTI-301A – a CAR-NK (chimeric antigen receptor - natural killer) cell therapy developed to target hepatocellular carcinoma, one of the most common types of liver cancer.
In a press release, Senti stated that they “do not intend to invest in the clinical development of SENTI-301A, for the treatment of hepatocarcinoma (HCC) on its own at this time.”
By streamlining their research, Senti will be giving more focus to its other ongoing oncology programs, SENTI-202 and SENTI-401.
The former, SENTI-202, is an off-the-shelf product candidate designed to target and eliminate acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) while sparing healthy bone marrow.
SENTI-202 is currently on its way to the clinic, with Senti running final studies ahead of a planned IND filing for the CAR-NK cell therapy in the second half of the year.
With this measure, Senti expects its current financial reserves to last through to at least the first quarter of 2024.
Senti Bio specialise in off-the-shelf CAR-NK cell therapies, championing the fact that large batches of product can be manufactured from healthy donor cells ahead of clinical use.
Timothy Lu, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Senti Bio, said his company was ‘laser focused' on developing workable cell therapies.
“Our Gene Circuits, especially our NOT gate, are designed to enable advanced cell and gene therapies to potentially have enhanced precision, activity and control, across therapeutic areas and delivery modalities, including NK cells and T cells,” said Lu.
“By focusing on SENTI-202 and SENTI-401, both of which incorporate NOT gates, we believe that we are well positioned to maximise opportunities across these two oncology programs while advancing Gene Circuits in a variety of other disease areas with potential partners.”
The biotech's SENTI-202 candidate is designed to kill leukemic blasts and leukemic stem cells without damaging healthy cells, differentiating between diseased and healthy tissue.
Senti's team has completed pre-IND interactions with the FDA regarding the CAR-NK cell therapy, and believes that planned IND-enabling studies and manufacture will support a Phase I trial for SENTI-202.
AML, a cancer of the bone marrow and blood, is the most common type of acute leukaemia in adults.
There are around 3,100 people diagnosed with AML each year in the UK – in the US, it accounts for just over 1% of all cancer cases.
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