Cygenics to collaborate with Peter Mac on T cell trials

Cygenics (ASX: CYN) subsidiary Cytomatrix has entered into a collaboration with Cell Therapies, the commercial arm of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre's Centre for Blood Cell Therapies, to test the company's T cell production technology in human clinical trials.

The Phase I and II trials, which are likely to commence in early 2005, are intended to test the safety and efficacy of T cells produced using Cytomatrix's proprietary three-dimensional scaffold, for therapeutic use in patients whose immune system has been damaged by chemotherapy.

Skin cells and blood stem cells taken from patients will be grown in the scaffold to produce new T cells that can then be transfused back into the patient. Because the cells are from the patient, and are educated using skin cells from the patient as well, there are no problems with rejection.

"It's very much a de novo set of T cells," said Cygenics' chief operating officer Ian Brown.

Cell Therapies will be responsible for carrying out the cell culture to produce the T cells, for use in the trials, which will target patients with lymphoma, leukaemia and related diseases.

According to Brown, the ethics approval process is underway, and with a pre-IND meeting under their belt, the company expects to file an IND application with the FDA within weeks.

"Everything should be in place by the end of the year," he said.