Therapy shows early promise in phase 1 MM trial

About P-BCMA-101

P-BCMA-101 employs a B-cell maturation antigen-specific Centyrin™ fused to a second-generation CAR scaffold (a CARTyrin) rather than a single-chain variable fragment (scFv).

Centyrins have similar binding affinities as scFvs but are said to be potentially less immunogenic than scFvs, more stable at the cell surface, and resistant to antigen/ligand-independent tonic signaling.

P-BCMA-101 is engineered using PiggyBac™, a transposon-based system requiring only mRNA and plasmid DNA (no virus).

The increased cargo capacity of PiggyBac allows for the incorporation of a safety switch and a selectable gene. The safety switch can be activated to enable depletion in case AEs occur. And the selectable gene allows for enrichment of CAR+ cells.