Senti Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNTI), a biotechnology company focused on advanced cell and gene therapies through its proprietary Gene Circuit platform, has unveiled a strategic collaboration with Celest Therapeutics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd ("Celest"), a Chinese biotechnology firm. This partnership is intended to advance the clinical development of SENTI-301A, a therapy designed for the treatment of solid tumors in China.
In this collaboration, Celest will take the lead in clinical development, operations, and manufacturing of SENTI-301A, with technical support provided by Senti Bio. Celest plans to conduct an initial pilot trial in mainland China, with the first patient expected to be enrolled in the first half of 2024. There is also an option to expand the clinical development of SENTI-301A to Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Senti Bio will retain all commercialization rights for SENTI-301A outside of mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
As part of the collaboration agreement, Senti Bio stands to receive up to $156 million in milestone payments, in addition to potential tiered royalty payments. Specifics of the other terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
The planned dose-finding trial will involve nine patients with advanced glypican 3 ("GPC3")-expressing hepatocellular carcinoma ("HCC") across two dose cohorts. The trial's objectives include assessing safety by monitoring adverse events and dose-limiting toxicities, as well as evaluating efficacy using standard response criteria for liver cancer.
Senti Bio, expressed his satisfaction with the partnership, highlighting its importance in advancing SENTI-301A's clinical development. He emphasized the value of leveraging Celest's capabilities in clinical development, manufacturing, and regulatory activities in China to bring Gene Circuit technology to patients in need.
Celest Therapeutics, emphasized the synergies created by this partnership, underscoring the mission to develop next-generation cell therapies to address the significant medical need in cancer treatment in China.
Senti Bio has previously highlighted the prevalence of HCC and market opportunities for HCC treatments in Asia, with HCC being the most common form of primary liver cancer in the region.
SENTI-301A is an off-the-shelf CAR-NK cell therapy derived from healthy donors and designed to target GPC3 expressing tumors. GPC3 is highly expressed in a significant percentage of HCC cases, while it has minimal or no expression in normal adult tissues. Additionally, SENTI-301A incorporates calibrated release interleukin-15 (crIL-15), an immuno-stimulatory payload designed to enhance CAR-NK cell expansion, persistence, and tumor-killing abilities while stimulating surrounding immune cells. Senti Bio has demonstrated robust preclinical data showing effective killing of relevant tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo with SENTI-301A.
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