Regio Zuid | Development of a novel immune suppression regimen in combination with allogeneic NK cell therapy

Allogeneic NK cell-based immunotherapy is on the rise to become the most prominent universal.anti-tumour cellular immunotherapy with blockbuster potential..Glycostem Therapeutics BV (Glycostem) developed a platform to expand and differentiate stem.cells, selected from cord blood, to NK cells. This allogeneic NK cell therapy (oNKord®) will come.to the market as an off-the-shelf product, with no restrictions to logistics, availability or patients’.HLA expression profile. Glycostem is searching for immunosuppressive drug candidates to be.used as combination therapy with NK cell infusion. This will increase the potency of the NK cell.therapy but, also important, will relieve the patient from heavy treatments. Glycostem’s lead.product oNKord® has shown excellent safety in a first clinical trial, in which promising efficacy.data have been achieved by keeping 80% of treated elderly AML patients alive during the first.year..Glycostem’s aim of the project is to determine the feasibility of developing a new to the world.combination therapy with glucocorticoids as preconditioning to allow allogeneic NK cell infusion.as cancer treatment in several types of tumours. Current combination therapies to deplete the.patient’s immune system are very risky to be used in solid tumours and come with major site.effects. Therefore, there is a need for a novel strategy of lymphodepletion to increase the.persistence of allogeneic NK cell therapy in the patient’s body and to increase the susceptibility.of the tumour cells. Glycostem’s long-term ambition is to develop a portfolio of oNKord® related.products to treat different solid tumours to become a global leader in immuno-oncology.business..The project is exploring both the technical and economic feasibility of the intended R&D project.and its deliverables. Glycostem is performing desk research, patent and regulatory research as.well as some early experimental assay development and testing to discover whether it can.address the technical risks..Top sectors involved: LSH.The project is about (feasibility of) developing new state of the art combination therapy in the.top sector Life Sciences Health..The project aims to develop a new combination therapy with glucocorticoids as preconditioning.and allogeneic NK cell infusion as cancer treatment. The long-term ambition is to develop a.portfolio of products for different cancer types and different applications to fit customer needs..This fits perfectly into the top sector LSH: Pharmacotherapy and Health technology assessment &.quality of life. A combination of societal challenges and economic opportunities..The project contributes to the addressed challenges on Health and safe societies, because with.the innovation essential research on this new combination therapy, cancer treatment can be.much more effective and cost efficient. The project fits into the innovation opportunities in the.field of smart technology / health & technology..The project has a cross-over with the top sector “Chemie en kunststoffen” on the topic Chemistry of life, with.innovations focused on molecular based treatments, personalized health, facilitating.technologies supporting the understanding of cellular processes.