Imugene CEO Leslie Chong and COO Dr. Brad Glover talked with Proactive about a newly announced strategic collaboration with JW Therapeutics to evaluate CF33-CD19, the company's oncolytic virus, in combination with JW’s approved CD19-directed autologous Car-T therapy.
The collaboration will involve preclinical work followed by a Phase 1 investigator-initiated trial in China. The study aims to validate what Imugene describes as a "mark and kill" approach. This strategy involves CF33-CD19 infecting and replicating within tumor cells, making them express CD19 on their surface, thus rendering them targetable by CD19 Car-T therapies.
Chong said, “This is an opportunity to validate our mark and kill strategy using our oncolytic to induce CD19 expression, covering a solid tumor, and then having a CD19-directed targeted therapy like Car-T.”
COO Dr. Brad Glover highlighted that JW’s clinical and operational capabilities made it the right partner to move this program forward efficiently and cost-effectively. He added that the agreement aligns with Imugene’s capital allocation strategy to prioritise high-value programs such as azer-cel, while developing CF33-CD19 through external collaborations.
Both executives emphasised the company’s commitment to keeping shareholders informed as development progresses.
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