Chief executive officer, Talaris Therapeutics

Scott Requadt

“We’re exploring addressing other settings where allogeneic stem cell transplant has been a standard of care. There are other nonmalignant hematological or immune disorders, in which stem cell transplants replace diseased cells with healthy cells from a healthy donor. The potential to do so with nonmyeloablative conditioning and across HLA mismatch barriers would makeit easier to find a pool of eligible donors and that would be an important advance."

Talaris Therapeutics is working toward being able to reprogram the immune system for a variety of immune indications.So far, their work in solid organ transplant has shown promise in chimerizing the immune system to tolerate both donor and host cells.

Talaris is evaluating their cell therapy candidate FCR-001 in their lead program for living kidney transplant, another program in diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc), and a preclinical program in deceased kidney transplant.

 spoke with Scott Requadt, chief executive officer, Talaris Therapeutics, to learn more about the FREEDOM-3 trial assessing FCR-001 in dcSSc and how the cell therapy candidate could improve outcomes in these patients. He also discussed advantages of Talaris’ in-house cell manufacturing and the preclinical program in deceased kidney transplant.

1. Talaris Therapeutics provides first FREEDOM-1 phase 3 clinical update and presents additional phase 2 data and analyses at American Society of Nephrology Meeting. News release. Talaris Therapeutics. November 4, 2021. https://ir.talaristx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/talaris-therapeutics-provides-first-freedom-1-phase-3-clinical
2. Talaris Therapeutics Announces Initiation of Phase 2 Clinical Trial of FCR001 in Individuals with a Severe Form of Scleroderma. News release. Talaris Therapeutics. November 30, 2021. https://ir.talaristx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/talaris-therapeutics-announces-initiation-phase-2-clinical-0

Videos

Scott Requadt, chief executive officer, Talaris Therapeutics, discussed the phase 2 FREEDOM-3 trial and preclinical studies of the cell therapy FCR-001. 

Tackling Deceased Kidney Transplant and Severe Scleroderma With Cell Therapy 

"Both patients are now more than 12 months out from their transplant who received our therapy and are now off all chronic immunosuppression... We’ve also identified, in phase 2, chimerism as a biomarker, which we believe is potentially quite predictive of the long-term ability to get off and stay off immune suppression.”

Talaris Therapeutics’ ambitious goal is to be able to reprogram the immune system for a variety of immune indications. To this end, they are revolutionizing solid organ transplant with their lead program that chimerizesthe immune system to tolerate both donor and host cells.

Talaris’ lead program in living kidney transplant, another program in diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc), and a preclinical program in deceased kidney transplant all use their cell therapy candidate FCR-001. The company recently presented positive data from the phase 2 long-term follow-up study as well as the phase 3 FREEDOM-1 trial in living kidney transplant.

 spoke with Scott Requadt, chief executive officer, Talaris Therapeutics, to learn more about the trials the company is conducting in living kidney transplant. He discussed data from the phase 2 long-term follow-up and phase 3 FREEDOM-1 trials as well the use of chimerism within study participants as a biomarker of efficacy.

Scott Requadt, chief executive officer, Talaris Therapeutics, discussed the long-term follow-up and FREEDOM-1 trials of FCR-001. 

Using Cell Therapy to Reduce Immunosuppression in Living Kidney Transplant Participants 

“Our audacious goal essentially is to use cells which are derived from a healthy donor to reprogram the immune system of a recipient. [Our lead program] is in solid organ transplant, where we... essentially grow a donor derived immune system in the transplant recipient that sees the transplanted organ as 'self' but doesn't attack the host.”

Talaris Therapeutics is aiming to be able to reprogram the immune system for a variety of immune indications. Their lead program is revolutionizing solid organ transplant by chimerizing the immune system to tolerate both donor and host cells.

Talaris’ FCR-001 is being evaluated in both their lead program in living kidney transplant and in diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc), with preclinical studies in deceased kidney transplant. The company recently presented positive phase 2 long-term follow-up data in living kidney transplant which showed that the first 2 patients dosed over 12 months ago have been able to discontinue all immunosuppression.

 They also announced the phase 2 FREEDOM-3 trial in dcSSC.

 spoke with Scott Requadt, chief executive officer, Talaris Therapeutics, to learn more about FCR-001 and the unmet need in the indications they are targeting, kidney transplant and dcSSc. He discussed the company’s approach and how the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the unmet need in these indications.

1. Talaris Therapeutics provides first FREEDOM-1 phase 3 clinical update and presents additional phase 2 data and analyses at American Society of Nephrology Meeting. News release. Talaris Therapeutics. November 4, 2021. 

https://ir.talaristx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/talaris-therapeutics-provides-first-freedom-1-phase-3-clinical


2. Talaris Therapeutics Announces Initiation of Phase 2 Clinical Trial of FCR001 in Individuals with a Severe Form of Scleroderma. News release. Talaris Therapeutics. November 30, 2021. https://ir.talaristx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/talaris-therapeutics-announces-initiation-phase-2-clinical-0

Scott Requadt, chief executive officer, Talaris Therapeutics, discussed the company’s goal to reprogram the immune system. 

Scott Requadt

Articles

Tackling Deceased Kidney Transplant and Severe Scleroderma With Cell Therapy

Using Cell Therapy to Reduce Immunosuppression in Living Kidney Transplant Participants

Reprogramming the Immune System for Kidney Transplant and Scleroderma