Leucid Bio to Use Lonza’s Cocoon Platform for Automated Manufacturing of CAR T Cells

Leucid Bio, a biotech company specializing in next-generation cell therapies for hard-to-treat cancers, announced on Dec. 2, 2021 that it has entered into a strategic collaboration with Lonza to use Lonza’s Cocoon Platform to manufacture chimeric antigen T (CAR T) cells for a forthcoming Phase I clinical trial through to commercial manufacturing.

Under the collaboration, Leucid will utilize Lonza as its preferred manufacturer, and Leucid will be one of Lonza’s preferred collaborators on the Cocoon Platform, an automated manufacturing platform. Both companies will work together to optimize and streamline the manufacturing process for Leucid’s CAR-T therapies. As a preferred collaborator, Leucid will also have early access to new Cocoon Platform technologies.

Leucid’s lead candidate, LEU-011, is a natural killer group 2D (NKG2D)-targeted CAR T-cell therapy in pre-clinical development for treating solid tumors and hematological malignancies. The NKG2D receptor is an activating immune receptor that triggers cell death when human NKG2D ligands are expressed and recognized on transformed, infected, or damaged cells. LEU-011 has the potential to treat multiple cancer types because NKG2D ligands are expressed on more than 80% of human tumor cells, according to Leucid Bio in a company press release.

“Following on from our successful Series A financing, we are delighted to be working with Lonza and its Cocoon Platform. This agreement will allow us to accelerate our path to the clinic, treating more patients sooner, potentially at point-of-care, and help to solve the key issues facing CAR-T therapeutics,” said Artin Moussavi, CEO of Leucid Bio, in the press release.

“We look forward to working with Leucid to bring its revolutionary, novel cancer immunotherapies to the clinic and patients. Use of the Cocoon Platform, coupled with the array of process development, manufacturing expertise, and tools that Lonza brings, will provide a smooth route to commercial approval. By leveraging the Cocoon Platform’s unique capabilities, this collaboration aims to illustrate the promise and feasibility of manufacturing autologous immunotherapies in a decentralized model into approved, routine use,” said Nicholas Ostrout, head of Commercial Development within Personalized Medicine at Lonza, in the press release.

Source: Leucid Bio