Nghiem Lab & Global Partners Awarded $4 Million for New Merkel Cell Carcinoma T-Cell Therapy
Congratulations to UW Dermatology’s Nghiem Lab Research Team, and partners from around the world, who have recently been awarded a $4 million grant from Innovation Fund Denmark (IFD) to develop and clinically test the ImmPACT cell product in Merkel cell carcinoma.
The Danish-based partnership includes the University of Washington’s Division of Dermatology, DTU Health Tech who developed the ImmPACT technology, PokeAcell, an immunotherapy company with exclusive rights and expertise in the development of cell products with ImmPACT, Cbio A/S, a clinical stage cell therapy company involved in the production of T cells, and Fred Hutch Cancer Center, where the trial is slated to be carried out.
The Innovation Fund Denmark is a public grant agency which invests in the development of new knowledge and technology to create growth and employment in Denmark and around the world.
The project will explore the potential of this new cell therapy, personalized ImmPACT cell therapy, developed by Dr. Sine Hadrup in Copenhagen, as a treatment for Merkel cell carcinoma, and subsequent adaptation to more common cancer types.
Merkel cell carcinoma is an aggressive cancer with very few treatment options. The partnership aims to assess the potential of the personalized ImmPACT cell product in patients, while developing the manufacturing platform needed for broad clinical evaluation.
"With the ImmPACT technology, we can stimulate a number of personally selected T cells from the patient's own blood, so that they are propagated and at the same time trained to better attack the cancer. Subsequently, the patient can have their own specially trained T-cells injected as treatment," explains Anne Reker Cordt, CEO of PokeAcell, who is coordinating the project.
Cell therapy holds large potential for the patients and we are honored by the support to the field and this project by Innovation Fund Denmark.
Learn more about this partnership and new therapy by visiting pokeacell.com.
