Pamicell "First Administration of Dendritic Cell Immunotherapy to Pancreatic Cancer Patients"

On the 26th, Pamisel announced that it has started the first administration of its dendritic cell immuno-oncology drug to pancreatic cancer patients.

According to the 2020 National Cancer Registry statistics, 7 out of 10 cancer patients (72.1%) in Korea survive more than 5 years; however, pancreatic cancer patients showed a significantly low 5-year survival rate of only 15.9%. Despite having the lowest survival rate among all cancer types, there are no appropriate treatments available, making the development of therapies urgently needed.

The clinical study conducted at Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital targets 10 metastatic pancreatic cancer patients who have failed at least one line of standard chemotherapy. The study administers autologous bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (CellgramDC-WT1) combined with the immune checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda (Pembrolizumab) three times at 3-week intervals to evaluate safety and efficacy. Patient enrollment began in April this year, with 3 patients currently registered.

CellgramDC-WT1 used in the clinical study is a patient-customized anticancer immunocellular therapy developed by Pamisel. It selects and proliferates CD141+ dendritic cells with high activity from the patient’s bone marrow hematopoietic stem cells, then educates them to attack WT1, an antigen expressed on cancer cells. Moreover, since WT1 is an antigen expressed in most solid tumors, it is expected that this therapy can be expanded to various solid cancers in the future.

Professor Won Jong-ho, the principal investigator of the Hematology-Oncology Department at Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital, said, "With the development of CellgramDC-WT1, we expect to slow down or halt cancer progression in pancreatic cancer patients whose average survival period is less than 6 months, thereby extending their survival time." He added, "Now that the first patient has been treated, we will strive to conduct the study well and achieve good results."

In November last year, Pamisel’s autologous bone marrow-derived dendritic cell (CellgramDC-WT1) immuno-oncology drug was selected by the Advanced Regenerative Medicine and Advanced Biopharmaceutical Review Committee under the Ministry of Health and Welfare for a clinical research project treating metastatic pancreatic cancer patients who have failed at least one line of standard chemotherapy.

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