Around the Helix: Cell and Gene Therapy Company Updates – March 6, 2024

The cell and gene therapy sectors are growing exponentially, with new players emerging daily and much progress being made both in and out of the lab. CGTLive®’s Around the Helix is your chance to catch up with the latest news in cell and gene therapies, including partnerships, pipeline updates, and more.

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1. New Clinical Data Presented at MDA 2024

Catch up on CGTLive's coverage of the 2024 Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Clinical and Scientific Conference, held March 3-6, in Orlando, Florida. Expert insights will continue to be posted throughout the week.

2. First Patient With Esophageal Cancer Receives TAC101-CLDN18.2 Cell Therapy

Triumvira Immunologics has treated the first patient with Claudin 18.2+ solid tumors in its phase 1/2 TACTIC-3 trial (NCT05862324) investigating TAC101-CLDN18.2 cell therapy.

3. Regeneron Subsidiary Decibel Therapeutics Looks to Assess Gene Therapy for Otoferlin Gene-Mediated Hearing Loss in Phase 1/2 CHORD Clinical Trial

In observance of World Hearing Day, an event held annually on March 3 that is recognized by the World Health Organization, CGTLive decided to take a closer look at the clinical evaluation of this ongoing study.

4. Latest News in Cell and Gene Therapy for Rare Disease Day 2024

For Rare Disease Day, which was observed this year on February 29, the CGTLive team gathered some of the latest updates on rare disease research.

5. CDMO Genezen to Provide Support for Seattle Children’s Gene Therapy Program in XLA

Under a new strategic manufacturing partnership, the contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Genezen will provide services including viral vector process development and current good manufacturing practice manufacturing for the development of Seattle Children's Research Institute’s gene therapy program in X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA), which is a rare X-linked disorder.

6. Ginkgo Bioworks Snags Multiple Acquisitions

On February 28th, Gingko Bioworks announced that it had made multiple acquisitions. In addition to acquiring the genome engineering focused company Proof Diagnostics, Gingko also scooped up Patch Biosciences, which has designed an artificial intelligence (AI) platform for sequence design, and AI drug discovery assets from Reverie Labs.

7. Kenai Therapeutics Garners $82 Million in Series A Round of Financing

Kenai intends to use the funds, which come from investors such as Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation and Cure Ventures, to submit an investigational new drug application and carry out phase 1 clinical trials for RNDP-001, its allogeneic induced pluripotent stem cell-derived therapy that is in development for the treatment of Parkinson disease.