CULVER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NantKwest Inc. (Nasdaq:NK), a pioneering, next generation, clinical-stage immunotherapy company focused on harnessing the unique power of our immune system using natural killer (NK) cells to treat cancer, infectious diseases and inflammatory diseases, provided an update today on the company’s aNK, haNK and taNK clinical programs in a presentation at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2016 Health Care Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.
As part of that presentation, additional details were shared on the following highlighted clinical studies all expected to be initiated in the second half of 2016:
- The aNK Phase II clinical study in Merkel cell carcinoma is advancing as planned with an interim data analysis planned for the second half of 2016.
- A HER2.taNK Phase I/II clinical study in glioblastoma and breast cancer
- A haNK Phase I/II clinical study in breast cancer in combination with trastuzumab (Herceptin)
- A haNK Phase I/II clinical study in breast cancer combination with trastuzumab and an adenovirus-based HER2 vaccine
- A haNK Phase I/II clinical study in gastric cancer in combination trastuzumab and AMG337, an oral, small molecule MET inhibitor
- A haNK Phase I/II clinical study in Ewing’s sarcoma in combination with ganitumab, a human monoclonal antibody against type 1 insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF1R)
- A haNK Phase I/II clinical study in rhabdomyosarcoma in combination with ganitumab and dasatinib
- A haNK Phase I/II clinical study in bladder cancer in combination with ALT-803, a novel IL-15 based immune system stimulating agent
Commenting on NantKwest’s clinical progress, Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, Chairman and CEO remarked, “The complex biology of cancer requires a similarly complex war against cancer that will require combination immunotherapy. We believe NantKwest’s novel, off-the-shelf natural killer cell therapy represents a critical backbone that enables the up regulation of both the innate immune system and the adaptive immune system to begin to successfully fight the war against cancer.”
Dr. Soon-Shiong continued, “I am also pleased to announce that with the proceeds from our IPO, the company has rapidly expanded its manufacturing capabilities and with the infrastructure now in place, we are now ready to translate these programs into human clinical studies over the next 6-12 months and look forward to sharing more details on these individual clinical trials over the next few months.”
To listen to the presentation in its entirety, the link to the presentation can be found on the NantKwest website at:
https://www.veracast.com/webcasts/baml/healthcare2016/id95107262726.cfm
in the investor relations section of the NantKwest website.
About NantKwest Inc.
NantKwest (Nasdaq:NK) is a pioneering, next generation, clinical-stage immunotherapy company focused on harnessing the unique power of our immune system using natural killer (NK) cells to treat cancer, infectious diseases and inflammatory diseases. NK cells are the body’s first line of defense due to the innate ability of NK cells to rapidly identify and destroy cells under stress, such as cancer or virally-infected cells.
NantKwest’s unique NK cell-based platform, with the capacity to grow active killer cells as a biological cancer therapy, has been designed to induce cell death against cancer or infected cells by three different modes of action: (1) Direct killing using activated NK cells (aNK) that release toxic granules directly into the cell through cell to cell contact, (2) Antibody-mediated killing using haNKs, which are NK cells engineered to incorporate a high affinity receptor that binds to an administered antibody, enhancing the cancer cell killing effect of that antibody, and (3) Targeted activated killing using taNKs, which are NK cells engineered to incorporate chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) to target tumor-specific antigens found on the surface of cancer cells.
Our aNK, haNK and taNK platform addresses certain limitations of T cell therapies including the reduction of risk of serious "cytokine storms" reported after T cell therapy. As an “off-the-shelf” therapy, NantKwest's NK cells do not rely on a patient’s own often compromised immune system. In Phase 1 clinical trials in patients with late stage cancer, NantKwest's NK cells have been successfully administered as an outpatient infusion therapy without any reported severe side effects, even at doses of 10 billion cells.
By leveraging an integrated and extensive genomics and transcriptomics discovery and development engine, together with a pipeline of multiple, clinical-stage, immuno-oncology programs that include a Phase 2 trial for a rare form of melanoma and the planned initiation of a clinical trial of NK cells targeted to breast cancer, we believe NantKwest is uniquely positioned to be the premier immunotherapy company and transform medicine by delivering living drugs in a bag and bringing novel NK cell-based therapies to routine clinical care. For more information, please visit NantKwest and follow Dr. Soon-Shiong on Twitter @DrPatSoonShiong.
