Poolbeg Pharma PLC's (AIM:POLB, OTC:POLBF) lead programme will play a central role in a new £3.4 million research effort aimed at tackling one of the biggest safety challenges in modern cancer treatment: cytokine release syndrome, or CRS.
The reaction, caused by an overactive immune response, is a known risk in advanced immunotherapies such as bispecific antibodies and CAR T-cell therapies.
The RISE programme, led by The University of Manchester and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and partly funded through a Medical Research Council Prosperity Partnership grant, will study how CRS arises and how it might be prevented.
Poolbeg will act as the lead business partner alongside Johnson & Johnson and other collaborators.
A key element will be Poolbeg’s POLB 001 TOPICAL trial, which uses teclistamab, a Johnson & Johnson bispecific antibody already approved for multiple myeloma.
Poolbeg said RISE would not affect timelines for its own study, with data still expected in summer 2026, nor would it change the company’s cash runway, which extends into 2027.
The wider programme will collect clinical data from patients treated with bispecific antibodies and CAR T-cell therapies and explore whether POLB 001 might help prevent CRS.
Poolbeg said the work reflects growing awareness of the need to manage immunotherapy-related complications, which continue to limit wider use of these otherwise powerful treatments.
Dr Jonathan Lim of The University of Manchester and The Christie will lead the research. Jeremy Skillington, Poolbeg’s chief executive, said the partnership would “deepen the understanding of CRS” and that the company was “very proud that POLB 001 can play a key part in this.”