ViroCell Biologics announced the opening of a University College London clinical trial to advance Professor Persis Amrolia’s innovative chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for relapsed pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Dr. Amrolia is Professor of Transplantation Immunology at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, Director of the BMT/CART unit at Great Ormond Street Hospital and an international leader in CAR T-cell therapy for pediatric ALL.
ALL is the most common cancer in childhood and, whilst 85% of patients can be cured with conventional chemotherapy and stem cell transplant, relapsed ALL remains one of the leading causes of cancer death in children. Genetically modified CAR T-cells targeting CD19 have shown impressive outcomes in relapsed/refractory ALL. However, 50% of responding patients will relapse either due to evolution of CD19 negative disease or early loss of CAR T-cells so that only around 40% of patients are cured by the currently licensed CAR T-cell therapies. This means there is a clear unmet need to develop novel CAR T-cell products with improved efficacy. To address these challenges, Professor Amrolia has developed a cutting-edge solution that preserves early “stem cell memory” T-cells, which persist longer in patients together with dual targeting with both CD19 and CD22 CAR T-cells to prevent antigen-negative relapse.
Professor Amrolia selected ViroCell to manufacture the lentiviral vector for this novel CAR T-cell therapy based on its track record for delivering high quality vector. Through this relationship, Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and UCL’s world-leading research capabilities are supported by ViroCell’s delivery of a high quality, high yield lentiviral vector to advance UCL’s Phase I CARPALL (cohort 4) clinical trial in children and young adults (age <18) with relapsed/refractory ALL. The study enrolled its first subject in March 2025.
Farzin Farzaneh, PhD, CSO of ViroCell, commented: "We are honoured to support such prestigious research institutions as GOSH and UCL to bring next-generation CAR T-cells to paediatric patients with relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia. We at ViroCell are passionately focused on leveraging our experience in viral vector design and manufacture to efficiently bring innovative therapies, like Professor Amrolia’s, to patients."
Persis Amrolia, Professor of Transplantation Immunology, University College London, commented: "It was a pleasure to work with ViroCell and I am delighted with the speed, efficiency, quality and high yield of lentiviral vector they have produced for our relapsed ALL program. The depth of experience of the team, paired with their commitment to speed in manufacturing, testing and release makes ViroCell the ideal partner for innovators looking to transition their therapy swiftly from vector design to manufacturing and, ultimately, into patients."