GAITHERSBURG, Md., – August 24, 2020 – Arcellx today announced the award of an EvansMDS Discovery Research Grant to Johns Hopkins University to support development of an Arcellx ARC-sparX therapy in the treatment of high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). The collaborative effort, led by Amy E. DeZern, M.D., at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, aims to advance development of ACLX-002, an immune cell therapy candidate directed at the therapeutic target CD123. The collaboration includes research to be conducted by Craig Jordan, Ph.D., of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and materials and expertise to be contributed by Arcellx.
“Patients with MDS face a poor prognosis despite current treatments,” commented David Hilbert, Ph.D., President, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Arcellx. “We see tremendous potential for ARC-sparX therapy for these patients through the application of our platform technology, which is designed to allow precise control of engineered T cell activity. We look forward to supporting this collaboration with the shared goal of advancing ACLX-002 into the clinic as a new approach for the treatment of MDS.”
ARC-sparX Platform Technology
The ARC-sparX platform separates the tumor-recognition and tumor-killing functions of conventional CAR-T cell therapies: (1) sparX (soluble protein antigen-receptor X-linkers) proteins recognize and bind specific antigens on diseased cells and flag those cells for destruction; and (2) ARC-T (Antigen Receptor Complex-T) cells bind the sparX proteins and kill the flagged cells. Arcellx has developed a collection of sparX proteins that bind different cell surface antigens. Administration of alternate sparX proteins can redirect ARC-T cells to different disease antigens to potentially address relapsed and refractory disease due to tumor heterogeneity or antigen escape. Additionally, ARC-T cell activity can be curbed as needed by controlling the dose and frequency of sparX administration.
About Arcellx, Inc.
Arcellx is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel, adaptive and controllable cell therapies for the treatment of patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases. More information can be found at www.arcellx.com.
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