August 25, 2020 -- Carisma Therapeutics has entered into a scientific research and licensing agreement with NYU Langone Health to attain exclusive rights to develop and commercialize a Vpx lentiviral vector globally for all indications.
The Vpx lentiviral vector is effective at transducing human monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells. The vector will broaden the utility of Carisma's engineered monocyte and macrophage platforms by enabling integration of transgenes for long-term, durable expression.
Carisma is partnering on the project with Nathaniel Landau, PhD, a professor in the department of microbiology at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine and inventor of the Vpx lentiviral vector.
The partnership builds on Carisma's recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance of an investigational new drug (IND) application for its lead product candidate, CT-0508, an anti-human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) targeted chimeric antigen receptor macrophage (CAR-M). The company plans to begin a phase I clinical trial for the candidate in solid tumors later this year.