Pamicell Receives Simultaneous Phase 1 Clinical Trial Approval for Prostate and Ovarian Cancer Treatments

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Pharmicell announced on the 26th that it has received approval from the Korea Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for Phase 1 commercial clinical trials of two anticancer immune cell therapies. The therapies are Cellgram-DC-PC, a treatment for prostate cancer, and Cellgram-DC, a treatment for ovarian cancer.

The Phase 1 clinical trials will be conducted at Seoul Asan Medical Center, targeting 10 prostate cancer patients for Cellgram-DC-PC and 10 ovarian cancer patients for Cellgram-DC.

Pharmicell’s two therapies are anticancer immune cell therapy vaccines using dendritic cells differentiated from bone marrow blood through patented technology. The principle of the vaccine is to activate the body's immune function to treat tumors. Unlike treatments administered for direct tumor removal, these vaccines are characterized by fewer side effects. In particular, the main component, dendritic cells, are cells that recognize cancer cells within the immune system and induce an immune response. Due to their excellent inherent function, a high anticancer effect can be expected even at low doses.

A company representative stated, “In fact, non-clinical trial results confirmed that our dendritic cell vaccine showed higher therapeutic effects compared to existing dendritic cell vaccines in mouse cancer treatment models.”

He added, “Cancer cells are not quickly identified as invaders like bacteria or viruses by the human body, making early detection difficult. The importance of dendritic cells lies in their role of recognizing the characteristics of cancer cells hidden within normal cells, educating immune cells, and enabling them to attack cancer cells.”

Pharmicell is currently developing anticancer immune cell therapy vaccines through the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s ‘2016 Advanced Medical Technology Development Project’ and the Ministry of Science and ICT’s ‘2020 Bio and Medical Technology Development Project’ detailed tasks. A company representative added, “Since we are entering commercial clinical trials based on government projects, we plan to make every effort to commercialize the products through more focused research.”

Meanwhile, Pharmicell also holds patented technology that overcomes the cultivation limitations of existing dendritic cell-based anticancer immune cell therapies. Currently, Pharmicell owns patents including one for ‘differentiating hematopoietic stem cells into dendritic cells,’ a patent for a ‘monocyte production method’ to increase the yield of monocytes, the precursor cells of dendritic cells, for manufacturing dendritic cell-based anticancer immune cell therapies, and a patent for a ‘next-generation dendritic cell production method containing ginsenoside Rg3 as an active ingredient.’

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.