Health and Healthcare

This T-Cell Therapy Could Be a Game Changer for Adaptimmune

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Adaptimmune Therapeutics PLC (NASDAQ: ADAP) shares absolutely exploded on Monday after the company announced encouraging responses for its Spear T-cell platform. These results were announced that the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, which has proven to be a huge catalyst for biopharma companies.

The data included two confirmed partial responses (PRs), one in a patient with liver cancer and one in a patient with melanoma. There are also two unconfirmed PRs, one in a patient with gastroesophageal junction cancer and one in a patient with head and neck cancer.

In terms of the specifics:

  • A confirmed PR (decrease of 100% in target lesions) in a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) – the first patient treated in the third cohort of the Phase 1 ADP-A2AFP trial
  • A confirmed PR (decrease of 42% in target lesions) in a patient with metastatic rectal mucosal melanoma – the first patient treated in the low-dose radiation sub-study of the Phase 1 ADP-A2M4 trial
  • An unconfirmed PR (decrease of 42% in target lesions) in a patient with metastatic gastro-esophageal junction cancer – the first patient treated in the first cohort of the next-generation SURPASS trial
  • An unconfirmed PR (decrease of 36% in target lesions) in a patient with head and neck cancer treated in the expansion phase of the Phase 1 ADP A2M4 trial

These data further confirm the potential of Adaptimmune’s Spear T-cell platform for patients with multiple solid tumors.

The company previously reported showing compelling efficacy with ADP-A2M4 in synovial sarcoma.

Adrian Rawcliffe, Adaptimmune’s CEO, commented:

These responses demonstrate that our proprietary SPEAR T-cell platform is clearly active and can overcome the challenges of treating a range of solid tumors with a T-cell therapy product. These are early results and we need more patient data and durability information to determine which therapies to develop. Nonetheless, this is a critical demonstration of the value of our SPEAR T-cell therapies for people with cancer and a validation of the importance of our proprietary affinity engineering. I couldn’t be prouder of the team at Adaptimmune, and we are grateful to the investigators and patients who have put their faith in our treatment. We look forward to presenting data from these trials at future scientific congresses.

Shares of Adaptimmune were last seen up about 170% at $3.60, in a 52-week range of $0.70 to $5.97. The consensus price target is $5.25.


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