Atara Biotherapeutics (Nasdaq:ATRA), a leading off-the-shelf, allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy company developing novel treatments for patients with cancer, autoimmune and viral diseases, today presented results indicating that tab-cel^® (tabelecleucel) was generally well tolerated with responses for patients with Epstein-Barr virus-associated leiomyosarcoma (EBV+ LMS).

As quoted in the press release:

EBV+ LMS is a rare soft tissue sarcoma that occurs in transplant and immunosuppressed patients and is typically an aggressive radiation- and chemotherapy-resistant disease with poor patient outcomes. The results were presented in an oral session at the European Society for Medical Oncology Immuno-Oncology (ESMO I‑O) Congress 2018 taking place in Geneva, Switzerland.

“The EBV+ LMS results presented at ESMO I-O are the second example, along with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), of a difficult-to-treat, EBV-associated solid tumor with encouraging responses to tab‑cel^®,” said Dietmar Berger, M.D., Ph.D., Global Head of Research and Development of Atara Biotherapeutics. “Observations of responses based on standard-CT and metabolic PET-CT imaging, in the context of prolonged survival, further highlight the opportunity for tab‑cel^® and off-the-shelf, allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy in EBV-associated cancers beyond our ongoing studies for patients with post‑transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD) and NPC.”

Click here to read the full press release.