Kite presents promising preclinical data from KITE-585, a fully human anti-BCMA CAR T-cell product candidate

Phase I clinical study of KITE-585 in patients with multiple myeloma planned for 2017.

In today’s oral presentation (Abstract #4979), “Development of KITE-585: A fully human anti-BCMA CAR T-cell therapy for the treatment of multiple myeloma,” KITE-585 demonstrated potent in vitro and in vivo activity against MM cell lines. CAR T cells were active in the presence of soluble BCMA and also eradicated established MM tumors in mice. KITE-585 contains a proprietary linker with the CD28 costimulatory domain. This configuration resulted in polyfunctional activation and proliferation of T-cells in the presence of MM cell lines, with no evidence of tonic signaling in the absence of target cells.

In the poster presentation (Abstract #2135), “Selectivity and specificity of engineered T cells expressing KITE-585, a chimeric antigen receptor targeting B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA),” the selectivity of KITE-585’s novel single-chain variable fragment (scFv) for BCMA was assessed using Retrogenix cell microarray technology. The results demonstrated the specificity of KITE-585 for BCMA expressing target cells.

“These promising preclinical data presented at AACR suggest the potential of KITE-585 to offer a one-time treatment to address the high unmet need in multiple myeloma, an incurable blood cancer,” said David Chang, Executive Vice President, R&D, and Chief Medical Officer. “The roadmap developed for the clinical development and manufacturing expertise of axicabtagene ciloleucel will be invaluable as we accelerate KITE-585 into the clinic later this year.”