The report will contain data of CAR-T product candidate called BNT211, an autologous CAR-T cell therapy

BioNTech SE, a biotechnology firm based in Germany, recently announced a publication in Science regarding a therapeutic CAR-T approach for solid tumors that uses CAR-T cell amplifying RNA Vaccine, also called CARVac introduced by the company. The report offers preclinical proof-of-concept data for the company’s first CAR-T product candidate called BNT211 which is an autologous CAR-T cell therapy.

It essentially targets oncofetal antigen Claudin 6 (CLDN6) as well as outlines CARVac as an RNA vaccine approach that is widely applicable for the improvement of the efficacy of the CAR-T cell therapies.

Reportedly, CAR-T cell has exhibited considerable clinical efficacy in blood cancers but still tends to face challenges in regards with solid tumors that includes a limited number of identified cancer-specific solid tumors, insufficient persistence of CAR-T cells and inefficient CAR-T cell infiltration into solid tumors.

BioNTech has been aiming to overpower such hurdles by targeting the tumor-specific antigen expressed in several solid tumors, CLDN6, which when combined with an RNA vaccine will promote persistence, efficacy, and amplification of CAR-T cells in vivo.

CAR-T cell therapy combined with CARVac will be underlining the value of cross-platform synergies that would address major challenges for the development of cancer treatment.

Sources confirm that BioNTech has planned to commence Phase 1/2 clinical trial, its first-in-human trial for BNT211, later in the year in solid tumors such as testicular, lung cancer, ovarian and uterine. The manufacturing shall be conducted in-house at the state-of-the-art cell therapy facility BioNTech, which is GMP certified, to support the clinical trials of BNT211. The GMP plant is a certified cell therapy and manufacturing facility located in Idar-Oberstein, Germany, that has been operating since 1999.

BioNTech had initiated a capacity expansion at the facility in the year 2018 and it expects it to be completed by 2020.

Source Credit- https://investors.biontech.de/news-releases/news-release-details/biontech-announces-publication-preclinical-data-first-kind-car-t