A recent academic case study, published on April 22, examined using Amgen Inc’s AMGN Blincyto, a bispecific CD3xCD19 T-cell engager, to treat a patient with severe systemic sclerosis.
The findings have implications for Cullinan Therapeutics Inc’s CGEM CLN-978, a similar CD19xCD3 bispecific T-cell engager.
Most recently, Cullinan Therapeutics, formerly Cullinan Oncology, announced its plans to expand into autoimmune diseases and intends to pursue the development of CLN-978 in autoimmune diseases, with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) as a first indication.
William Blair notes that the case report demonstrates that Blincyto effectively treated a patient with severe systemic sclerosis, leading to rapid B-cell depletion and symptom improvement without increasing infection risk or affecting antibody levels.
This suggests the potential for using B-cell-depleting therapy in autoimmune diseases like systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), offering easier administration than CAR-T therapy.
CLN-978’s development will initially target SLE, with Phase 1 submission planned for the third quarter.
William Blair rates Cullinan shares Outperform based on the significant potential of CLN-619 for endometrial and cervical cancer, zipalertinib for exon 20 mutant lung cancer, CLN-049 for leukemia, and CLN-978 for autoimmune diseases.
They believe the fair value of each share is $33.
Updated data for CLN-619, expected in the second quarter of 2024, will be a key catalyst for the company, along with updates for CLN-978 in lupus and other autoimmune indications.
The development of Cullinan’s other early-stage oncology assets would provide additional upside.
Earlier Wednesday, Cullinan Therapeutics announced that clinical data from its Phase 1 trial of CLN-619 in patients with advanced solid tumors will be presented at the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology.
The data will include the first results from the dose escalation cohort of CLN-619 in combination with checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab and updated results from the monotherapy dose-escalation cohort in patients with advanced solid tumors.
Price Action: CGEM shares are up 15.10% at $19.18 at the last check Wednesday.
Photo via PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
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