PHILADELPHIA, April 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Carisma
Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: CARM), a clinical stage
biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing
innovative immunotherapies, announced three abstracts were accepted
for presentation at The American Association for Cancer Research
(AACR) Annual Meeting held from Friday,
April 14 – Wednesday, April 19
in Orlando, FL. The accepted data
reinforce the potential of Carisma's differentiated and proprietary
cell therapy platform focused on engineered macrophages as a novel
treatment pathway for hard-to-treat cancers and other serious
illnesses.
![(PRNewsfoto/CARISMA Therapeutics Inc.) (PRNewsfoto/CARISMA Therapeutics Inc.)](https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1219543/Carisma_Therapeutics_Logo.jpg)
"The three abstracts being presented at the AACR Annual Meeting
reiterate our commitment to adding robust depth to our engineered
macrophage platform," said Michael
Klichinsky, PharmD, PhD, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific
Officer at Carisma Therapeutics. "As we continue to treat patients
with HER2 overexpressing solid tumors in the clinic with our
lead program CT-0508, we are excited to
present on two of our pre-clinical programs that
represent advancements in macrophage-based cell therapy. We believe
that our mesothelin program has the potential to bring CAR-M
therapy to patients with a variety of mesothelin positive solid
tumors, and that our novel engineered microenvironment converter
(EM-C) platform has the potential to reverse immunosuppression
in the solid tumor and, conversely, reverse inflammation in
auto-immune disease."
Accepted for AACR presentation is, "A phase 1, first-in-human
(FIH) study of autologous anti-HER2 chimeric antigen receptor
macrophage (CAR-M) in participants (pt) with HER2 overexpressing
solid tumors," to be presented by Yara
Abdou, MD, of the University of North
Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. This
Trials-In-Progress poster provides an overview of the phase 1 FIH
study design, objectives, and eligibility criteria, that is
evaluating safety, tolerability, cell manufacturing feasibility,
trafficking, tumor microenvironment (TME) activation, and
preliminary evidence of efficacy of CT-0508 in participants with
locally advanced metastatic solid tumors overexpressing HER2.
In the poster presentation, "Macrophages engineered with
cytokine switch receptors: Development of a modular platform for
rebalancing inflammation in microenvironments," to be presented by
Chris Sloas, PhD, Senior Scientist
at Carisma, Carisma is presenting a novel immunotherapy platform
that harnesses macrophages as "living converters" to locally
regulate inflammation for oncology and inflammatory applications.
The study demonstrates that this platform offers modularity in
controlling the inflammatory status of tissue microenvironments
without systemic cytokine antagonism and represents a major advance
in macrophage-base cell therapy.
Carisma will also share key findings from recent studies
including, "A mesothelin targeting chimeric antigen receptor
macrophage (CAR-M) for solid tumor immunotherapy: pre-clinical
development of CT-1119," to be presented by Nicholas Anderson, PhD, Principal Scientist at
Carisma. The study demonstrated that CT-1119, an autologous human
anti-mesothelin chimeric antigen receptor macrophage (CAR-M), can
phagocytose, eradicate, and induce an inflammatory response against
mesothelin overexpressing solid tumors. These results show that
CAR-M is a feasible approach for the treatment of mesothelin
overexpressing solid tumors.
The following poster presentations will be published on the AACR
Annual Meeting website and available for registered attendees
during the dates/times indicated below:
Tuesday, April 18 at
9:00 am ET: Macrophages
engineered with cytokine switch receptors: Development of a modular
platform for rebalancing inflammation in microenvironments
Tuesday, April 18 at
9:00 am ET: A mesothelin
targeting chimeric antigen receptor macrophage (CAR-M) for solid
tumor immunotherapy: pre-clinical development of CT-1119
Tuesday, April 18 at
1:30 pm ET-5:00 pm ET: A
phase 1, first-in-human (FIH) study of autologous anti-HER2
chimeric antigen receptor macrophage (CAR-M) in participants (pt)
with HER2 overexpressing solid tumors
About CT-0508
CT-0508 is a human epidermal growth
factor receptor 2 (HER2) targeted chimeric antigen receptor
macrophage (CAR-M). It is being evaluated in a landmark Phase 1
multi-center clinical trial that focuses on patients with recurrent
or metastatic HER2-overexpressing solid tumors whose cancers do not
have approved HER2-targeted therapies or who do not respond to
treatment. Carisma Therapeutics is selecting participants who have
tumors of any anatomical origin, but with the commonality of
overexpressing the HER2 receptor on the cell surface, which is the
target for its CAR-M. The Phase 1 clinical trial is
first-of-its-kind, marking the first time that engineered
macrophages are being studied in humans. The trial continues to
enroll patients at five U.S. sites, including Abramson Cancer
Center at The University of
Pennsylvania; the University of North
Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center in
Chapel Hill; City of Hope in
Duarte, California; University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in
Houston, Texas; and Sarah Cannon
Research Institute at Tennessee Oncology – Nashville.
About Carisma Therapeutics
Carisma Therapeutics Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated
to developing a differentiated and proprietary cell therapy
platform focused on engineered macrophages, cells that play a
crucial role in both the innate and adaptive immune response. The
first applications of the platform, developed in collaboration with
the University of Pennsylvania, are
autologous chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-macrophages for the
treatment of solid tumors. Carisma Therapeutics is headquartered in
Philadelphia, PA. For more
information, please visit carismatx.com.
Media Contact:
Julia
Stern
(763) 350-5223
jstern@realchemistry.com
Investor Contact:
investors@carismatx.com
Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking
Statements
Statements in this press release about future
expectations, plans and prospects, as well as any other statements
regarding matters that are not historical facts, may constitute
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of The Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include,
but are not limited to, statements relating to Carisma's business,
strategy, future operations, cash runway, the advancement of
Carisma's product candidates and product pipeline, and clinical
development of Carisma's product candidates, including expectations
regarding timing of initiation and results of clinical trials, and
participation by the Company in future healthcare industry and
investor conferences. The words ""anticipate," "believe,"
"contemplate," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "goals,"
"intend," "may," "might," "outlook," "plan," "project,"
"potential," "predict," "target," "possible," "will," "would,"
"could," "should," and similar expressions are intended to identify
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statements contain these identifying words.
Any forward-looking statements are based on management's current
expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially and adversely from those set forth in, or implied by,
such forward-looking statements. For a discussion of these risks
and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could
cause the Company's actual results to differ from those contained
in the forward-looking statements, see the "Risk Factors" set forth
in Exhibit 99.3 to Company's Current Report on Form 8-K filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 8, 2023, as well as discussions of
potential risks, uncertainties, and other important factors in the
Company's most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Any forward-looking statements that are made in this
press release speak as of the date of this press release. Carisma
undertakes no obligation to revise the forward-looking statements
or to update them to reflect events or circumstances occurring
after the date of this press release, whether as a result of new
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