EQS-News

Israeli Ministry Of Health Clears Way For Human Trials Of AllocetraTM, A Proprietary Off-the-Shelf Immunotherapy For Solid Tumors

EQS-News: Enlivex Therapeutics, Ltd. Israeli Ministry Of Health Clears Way For Human Trials Of AllocetraTM, A Proprietary Off-the-Shelf Immunotherapy For Solid Tumors 01.12.2022 / 20:00 CET/CEST The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The Israeli Ministry of Health (MOH) approved a Phase I/II trial of Enlivex Therapeutics Ltd.’s (NASDAQ: ENLV) proprietary immunotherapy drug-candidate AllocetraTM.

AllocetraTM is a cell therapy that uses healthy donor cells to reprogram and strengthen the patient’s immune response against cancer.

If approved, the drug candidate would be a universal, off-the-shelf immunotherapy that could be combined with other leading immunotherapies and cancer treatments to improve a patient’s odds of beating this hard-to-treat disease. Here’s how the Israel-based biotech’s macrophage reprogramming drug works and what the latest clinical trial measures.

AllocetraTM Reprograms Macrophages To Weaken Cancer Cells

The first responders of the body’s immune systems, macrophages, patrol the bloodstream looking for signs of infection. Once spotted, they engulf the pathogen, rip it apart and alert other immune cells like T cells that it’s time to take action.

When cancer cells grow in the body, the disease evades detection by tricking macrophages into believing the cancerous cell is a normal, healthy cell. Then, it can turn that macrophage into a pro-tumor ally that will suppress any immune response trying to kill the cancer.

With Allocetra, healthy donor cells are sent in to reprogram the patient’s own macrophages so they not only stop helping the tumor but also start working with the immune system to fight those cancer cells again.

To do that, Enlivex developed a proprietary process to program those donor macrophages to send out an “eat me” signal once injected. That signal tells the patient’s macrophages to eat the donor cells. Once engulfed, they set to work restoring it to its homeostatic state.

Restoring Macrophage Homeostasis Could Help Overcome Checkpoint Inhibitor Resistance

While reprogramming macrophages may already help boost the body’s cancer-fighting ability on its own, one of the most exciting potentials of this novel treatment is its ability to combat the resistance that cancers often develop against other immunotherapies.