Atara Biotherapeutics Announces Publication of Phase 1 Study Demonstrating Clinical Improvement

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 announced that results of a Phase 1 clinical study conducted by the Company’s collaborating investigators at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute and The University of Queensland were published online in JCI Insight.

As quoted in the press release:

“We previously presented promising initial ATA190 results in patients with progressive MS, and the published results confirm our earlier observations,” said Professors Michael Pender, The University of Queensland and Rajiv Khanna, Coordinator of QIMR Berghofer Centre for Immunotherapy and Vaccine Development. “Findings from the study support growing evidence that targeting EBV-positive B cells is a potential novel treatment modality for MS and merit additional investigation.”

The Phase 1 open-label, uncontrolled study evaluated escalating doses of ATA190 in ten patients, five with primary and five with secondary progressive MS. Safety and efficacy were monitored for up to 27 weeks and included Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score, fatigue, cognitive and other neurological assessments as well as analysis of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) immunoglobulin G (IgG) production. Prior to ATA190 T-cell immunotherapy, patients had experienced progressive neurological deterioration for a mean of 10.1 years.

Click here to read the full press release.