On April 8, 2024, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) submitted comments to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) regarding the prospective grant of an exclusive license to Poolbeg Pharma Limited, a UK-based company. The license concerns, “Adoptive T Cell Therapy Products Produced Using a Pharmacological p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) Inhibitor”. The Federal Register notice (89 FR 20486) states that the patents to be licensed pertain to “a method of producing populations of T cells for the treatment of cancer wherein the cells are cultured ( e.g., expanded) in the presence of a p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) inhibitor.”
It goes on to state that,
“In oncology, many investigational adoptive cell therapies rely on antigen-specific T cells isolated from the patient in need of treatment. However, these cells often exist in a terminally differentiated and exhausted state, or enter such a state following manipulation ex vivo, and are unable to mount a robust immune response following reinfusion. Recent evidence suggests that inhibition of P38 MAPK signaling in T cells during ex vivo expansion can ameliorate this performance defect. It is hoped that this modified cell manufacturing approach will enhance treatment efficacy.”
Poolbeg Pharma plc (LON:POLB) is a clinical stage infectious disease pharmaceutical company, with a novel capital light clinical model which enables us to develop multiple products faster and more cost effectively than the traditional biotech model.
