Government funds TxCell’s CAR-Treg therapy

One month after TxCell announced the completion of the development of its first-generation production process for its proprietary CAR-T_reg technology, it has received an interest-free loan from the French government. “The €1.2m loan from Bpifrance comes at a time when TxCell is entering a decisive year,” said Raphaël Flipo, CFO of TxCell. According to the company, the loan represents 25% of a programme covering the preclinical and non-clinical pharmaceutical development of TxCell’s lead CAR-T_reg programme in transplantation and preparing the first-in-man study. HLA-A2 CAR-T_reg cellular therapy  targets the prevention of chronic rejection after organ transplantation. The biotech company estimates the incurring costs at approximately €5m, including the costs of transferring the technology to a contract manufacturer.

As an alternative to non-specific immunosuppression, TxCell’s CAR-T_reg approach aims to induce immune tolerance to the graft in a local and specific manner. For its lead programme, CAR-T_reg cells are designed to target HLA-A2, a common mismatch antigen in transplantation. TxCell is currently evaluating two CAR-T_reg cell populations in preclinical models of graft rejection: CD4+FoxP3+ CAR-T_reg cells and CD8+FoxP3+ CAR-T_reg cells. In 2016, the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot (Israel) granted TxCell exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialise CAR-T_reg products for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.