SOTIO acquires rights to BOXR CAR-T from Unum Therapeutics
SOTIO plans to establish a T cell therapy R&D Center of Excellence in Cambridge, Massachusetts
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PRAGUE, Czech Republic and CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—SOTIO a.s. has announced the acquisition of rights to Unum Therapeutics Inc.’s BOXR cell therapy platform and BOXR lead programs, in order to develop novel T cell therapies for the treatment of solid tumors. The proprietary Bolt-on Chimeric Receptor technology incorporates novel transgenes to enhance T cell function in the solid tumor microenvironment.
“The acquisition of the BOXR platform, which creates CAR-T cells designed to survive longer and perform better in the solid tumor microenvironment, furthers the evolution of our cell therapy activities and enhances SOTIO’s diverse approach to treating solid tumors,” said Radek Špíšek, Ph.D., chief executive officer of SOTIO. “We are also excited about the possible synergy of a CAR-T approach with our clinical stage IL-15 superagonist program, SO-C101.”
Under the terms of the agreement, SOTIO will make an upfront payment of $8.1 million for the BOXR technology, and success-dependent future milestone payments up to $3.4 million. SOTIO plans to leverage its broad cell therapy expertise — including its in-house GMP cell therapy manufacturing site in Prague — to streamline process development and clinical grade cell therapy manufacturing by collaborating closely with the BOXR team in Cambridge.
SOTIO says that the company wants to build on Unum’s R&D data, its team and a portion of its laboratory and manufacturing facility to create an R&D Center of Excellence for T cell therapies in Cambridge. SOTIO also plans to develop multiple enhanced Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-T cell therapies for the treatment of solid tumors based on the BOXR technology.
In addition to acquiring the BOXR platform, several of Unum’s experienced research team members who were responsible for the research and development of the BOXR technology — including Geoff Hodge, former chief technology officer of Unum — will be joining SOTIO to continue advancing the BOXR R&D programs.
“We welcome Geoff Hodge, Unum’s former chief technology officer, to lead the BOXR development team. Geoff has made major contributions to the research and development of T cell therapies while at Unum,” Špíšek added.
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead SOTIO’s Center of Excellence dedicated to the discovery and development of novel T cell therapies, especially given the advantages of building from the exciting preclinical data of the BOXR platform, a great core team, and SOTIO’s extensive experience with the manufacture and logistics of autologous cell therapies for global clinical trials,” stated Geoff Hodge.
The lead program, BOXR1030 for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma and other solid tumors, is expected to initiate clinical studies in 2021.
In preclinical studies, BOXR1030 T cells expressing a GPC3 CAR and a Bolt-on gene were resistant to suppressive tumor microenvironment-like conditions, showing improved T cell proliferation under both hypoxic and low glucose conditions and superior efficacy in comparison to classical GPC3-targeted CAR-T cells. Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes isolated from the tumors of treated animals revealed that BOXR1030 cells were more resistant to dysfunction and had fewer markers of exhaustion as compared to the control CAR-T cells.
“We are excited for SOTIO to take the lead in advancing and accelerating the clinical development of the BOXR platform, including BOXR1030, in multiple trials with the potential to benefit a range of patients living with cancer,” added Chuck Wilson, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Unum Therapeutics. “SOTIO has assembled a seasoned and talented development team, including experienced Unum team members, and we look forward to SOTIO’s progress on the BOXR programs in the future.”
