As a way to step to establish adoptive cell therapy as routine clinical practice, the Cell Medica has today announced the treatment of the first patient in its CMV~IMPACT clinical study. The trial aimed at demonstrating the clinical effectiveness of immunoprophylactic adoptive cellular therapy (IMPACT) for the treatment of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections in immunosuppressed patients.

The study will be conducted in the Chief Investigator is Dr. Karl Peggs of the UCL Cancer Institute and it will be a randomized, intention-to-treat study to cover a period of two years. The trial, funded by the Wellcome Trust.

The trial will focus on preventing CMV infections in patients following an allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell (bone marrow) transplant. These are typically leukaemia or lymphoma patients whose immune systems are profoundly compromised during the period of recovery following a bone marrow transplant.Two methods of adoptive cell therapy using CMV-specific memory T cells will be compared to a control arm receiving only conventional antiviral treatment.

Ted Bianco, Director of Technology Transfer at The Wellcome Trust, said:

“We believe that Cell Medica has developed a viable model for the delivery of life-saving cell therapy to patients on a routine basis. In the true spirit of evidence-based medicine, the Wellcome Trust’s funding will not only help the company establish this service, but also to produce authoritative evidence of the therapy’s value through a controlled, randomised trial.”

Source: PharmaLive