Bayer Terminates CAR T-Cell Deal With Atara After Patient Death

Bayer has ended its collaboration with Atara Biotherapeutics regarding mesothelioma-targeted CAR T-cell therapies for solid tumors, less than two years after making it. The decoupling comes months after Atara reported a patient death in an early-phase study of its CAR T-cell therapy.  

“We acknowledge Bayer’s decision to end our collaboration following Bayer’s strategic review and asset-level prioritization of its pipeline, including cell and gene therapy,” said Jakob Dupont, MD, Head of Global R&D at Atara. 

Atara remains confident in the potential of its CAR T-cell therapies in addressing patient needs in solid tumors, and is reassessing the strategy to best generate value from its programs, Dupont said. 

Atara Forges Ahead With Phase 1 After Deal Termination

The 2020 agreement with Bayer will terminate in September 2022, and will return the rights and licenses of the related programs to Atara. 

This includes ATA3271, an armored allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy and its autologous counterpart, ATA2271, for high mesothelioma-expressing tumors such as malignant pleural mesothelioma and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). 

Atara will continue the ongoing ATA2271 Phase 1 study, which is being conducted by the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). Patient enrollment in the dose escalation study is currently paused following the death of a patient in the higher dose cohort. Still, Atara and MSK expect to provide a Phase 1 data update on the drug in the second half of 2022. On the other hand, Atara will continue to lead IND-enabling studies and development of ATA3371. 

Upcoming Interim Analysis for ATA188

According to a statement by Pascal Touchon, President and CEO of Atara, the company is expecting the results from an upcoming interim analysis of their Phase 2 EMBOLD study of ATA188 in June. ATA188 is a T-cell immunotherapy targeting EBV antigens to treat multiple sclerosis. 

Touchon adds that the company intends to engage the US FDA on a Biologics License Application pathway for their lead program, tab-cel, which is currently under EMA review in Europe. 

Furthermore, the company outlined plans to submit an IND for ATA3219 in Q4 of 2022, and postpone IND filing for ATA3271 as the company reassesses their mesothelioma CAR T program. 

Lastly, the company holds that their cash runway will last into Q4 of next year.

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Joy Lin

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