Irene Agodoa, MD, on Addressing GVHD Risks in Treating Hematologic Malignancies

“Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is 1 of the serious complications that we're looking to address with the Orca-T product. And because we have defined compositions of cells, really purified T regulatory cells, stem cells and conventional T cells, we've seen really great results in being able to mitigate and significantly reduce the amount of GVHD that we see in patients that receive Orca-T. So, that's really encouraging.”

The phase 3 Precision-T clinical trial (NCT05316701) is now evaluating Orca-T, Orca Bio’s allogeneic cell therapy, in participants with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), and high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). The trial is comparing the safety and efficacy of Orca-T against standard of care allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo-HSCT).

Orca Bio has developed Orca-T with the goal of mitigating GVHD and other transplant-related adverse events that are current possible drawbacks to standard allo-HSCT. To this end, Precision-T, which has now begun dosing in centers around the US, will primarily be assessing the incidence of GVHD.

CGTLive spoke with Irene Agodoa, MD, senior vice president and head, medical affairs, Orca Bio, to learn more about Orca-T's advantages in mitigating GVHD. She also discussed the impact of GVHD in patients that receive allo-HSCT.

REFERENCE

Orca Bio announces the Precision-T phase 3 study is open and enrolling patients at transplant centers across the US. News release. Orca Bio. August 2, 2022. https://orcabio.com/2022-08-02/