Gilead’s recent acquisition, Kite Pharma and Pfizer have now teamed up to work on a Yescarta-utomilumab combination test in certain blood cancers.
Pfizer’s utomilumab (PF-05082566) is also in combo studies with Keytruda and Kyowa Hakko Kirin’s anti-CCR4 antibody mogamulizumab. It’s a 4-1BB agonist, which researchers believe could prove a key player in spurring an amped up T cell attack on cancer cells among patients with large B-cell lymphoma.
The pact between Pfizer and Gilead’s new subsidiary Kite is just the latest example of the plans now underway to beef up the pipeline at the CAR-T company as it goes toe-to-toe with Novartis, which scored the first landmark FDA approval in CAR-T with the rollout of Kymriah.
If it proves successful, the companies indicated in the press release, regarding the development, that it just be the beginning of the companies’ collaboration.
“Kite is committed to realizing the full potential of Yescarta and other cell therapy technologies across a range of cancers,” said David Chang, Worldwide Head of Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer at Kite. “We are pleased to collaborate with Pfizer on this study with utomilumab, which adds to the growing number of combination approaches we are exploring with Yescarta for patients living with lymphoma.
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