Syncona Share Discussion Threads

[ltinvestor] 30/1/2020 16:27

These results seem extremely encouraging...

[luxaeterna1] 30/1/2020 14:29

AUTO3 update online in text format.

Looks like 18 patients. 57% complete response (71% partial response).

Those achieving complete response appear to maintaining that for moderate time duration.

[ltinvestor] 24/1/2020 08:53

The problem so far with Car T therapy is toxicity which Autolus have overcome by building in an “on” “ off” switch mechanism.I believe that Auto1 has been designated “orphan drug status” by the FDA and should therefore be producing revenues by the year end. Lymphoblastic leukaemia in children costs for a single treatment of Kymriah around $475k( Novartis)

[1seanshare] 23/1/2020 16:04

There are 3 CAR-Ts already on the market treating some of those diseases mentioned. There are many others about to launch, all claiming small advantages based on production quality, ease of administration (which is a current real headache), and efficacy / safety.
Who knows how this market will eventually play out but it’s clear now that the early promise has been a bit tempered, mainly based on less than expected efficacy (which had unrealistically high expectations) and difficulty of administration

[ltinvestor] 23/1/2020 09:05

Looks like Auto 1could be in the marketplace by year end.Expecting significant revenues from just this one product alone....

[1seanshare] 17/1/2020 12:12

I feel that AUTO is struggling against increased competition - lots of players in this space, as well as the science moving quickly...

[1seanshare] 17/1/2020 12:12

I feel that AUTO is struggling against increased competition - lots of players in this space, as well as the science moving quickly...

[chc15] 17/1/2020 12:09

Ok thanks, getting older, so prefer less risky investments, but I'll hold for now.

[luxaeterna1] 17/1/2020 11:59

Unclear CHC, average annual growth is 30% per year over the last 3 years, it probably overshot to £3 which was a significant premium to NAV. Currently trading about level with NAV. Quite a lot of things going on....AUTO or Freeline progress would significantly change the valuation.

[chc15] 17/1/2020 11:51

Any point holding onto these, not doing much, money put better eleswere?

[luxaeterna1] 21/12/2019 09:58

New AUTL presentation up on the website (Dec 19th) hxxps://www.autolus.com/investor-relations/news-and-events/presentations

[brexitplus] 19/12/2019 09:39

Healthcare company Syncona said it had made an $80m (£61.1m) funding commitment to biotech company Freeline.
The first tranche of $40m tranche would allow Freeline to expand its team, continue to develop its manufacturing platform generate further data in its clinical programmes for Haemophilia B and Fabry Disease, and progress its pipeline, Sycona said on Thursday.

Freeline has a pipeline of four disclosed programmes, two of which are clinical stage.

Syncona chief investment officer and Freeline executive chairman Chris Hollowood said: 'Freeline has developed a high-quality gene therapy platform with a novel capsid capable of driving high expression levels to treat systemic diseases.

'We are encouraged by the potential product profile in our lead programme in Haemophilia B and believe Freeline has the opportunity to achieve functional cures for patients across a broad pipeline of systemic diseases.'

Syncona said it would have a 79% fully diluted ownership stake in Freeline at the point full current commitments were invested.

[ltinvestor] 19/12/2019 07:54

Excellent progress being made by Freeline which is 79% owned by Syncona and valued at cost!

[milehouse] 10/12/2019 15:12

Interesting appointment of Julia Gregory to the board of Freeline. With experience in investment banking and taking biotech's to IPO it suggests that they will be preparing for an IPO.
Optimists view is that the Haemophilia B trial is looking good (read out due this financial year) and an IPO will be required to fund the Phase III.

Syncona shares seem to have dropped as a result though?

[brexitplus] 10/12/2019 10:19

Freeline, a biotechnology company focused on developing curative gene therapies for chronic systemic diseases, today announced the appointment of Julia P Gregory, to its Board of Directors. Ms. Gregory is a seasoned biopharmaceutical executive with CEO, CFO, Corporate Development, Board and Investment Banking experience.

“We are delighted to welcome Julia to Freeline’s Board of Directors,” said Chris Hollowood, Executive Chairman of Freeline. “She brings significant experience in biopharma governance, operations and investment banking. I look forward to working with her as we build the Company and progress our innovative gene therapy programmes through the clinic and towards commercialisation.”

“I am very pleased to be joining Freeline at this exciting time as the company brings curative gene therapies to patients suffering from the likes of Hemophilia, Fabry disease and Gaucher disease,” said Julia Gregory. “I look forward to working with the Board and management team to realise the full potential of these transformative therapies.”

Currently Chair and CEO of Isometry Advisors, Inc., a biotechnology advisory company, Ms. Gregory also serves as a non-executive director of several biopharmaceutical companies, including Biohaven Therapeutics, Cell Medica, Iconic Therapeutics, IMV, Nurix Therapeutics, and Sosei-Heptares. She is also a senior advisor to the Morgan Stanley’s Private Equity Growth Fund and M. M. Dillon & Co., Inc.

In her previous executive roles, Ms. Gregory served as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Board Director of ContraFect Corporation; President and CEO of Five Prime Therapeutics; and Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Financial Officer of Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Her corporate development experience includes leading transactions for significant strategic partnerships including development and licensing agreements with GlaxoSmithKline, Human Genome Sciences, Genentech, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. As CFO at Lexicon, she led the company’s $220 million public offering and was involved in the creation of Lexicon’s $500 million private equity plan with Invus, LLP. Prior to her leadership positions in the biopharmaceutical industry, Ms. Gregory was an investment banker at Dillon, Read & Co. and subsequently at Punk, Ziegel & Company, where she served as the head of investment banking and head of its life sciences practice.

She received her B.A. in International Affairs from George Washington University ‘s Elliot School of International Affairs where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and her M.B.A. from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania.

[ltinvestor] 08/12/2019 10:57

Data presented at the Ash conference yesterday shows the excellent progress being made by Autolus.Well worth reading .....

[ltinvestor] 07/12/2019 11:46

I expect to see a rerating of Syncona in 2020 as several of their investments enter the clinical stage.In addition, Autolus, which is around 30%, owned by Syncona should on positive data scale $20 plus over the coming months which should be reflected with an increase in the Syncona share price

[1seanshare] 07/12/2019 11:37

Don’t understand that whilst Autolus is much stronger, SYNC remains flat. My understanding was Autolus was dragging Sync but that shouldn’t be the case anymore?

[ltinvestor] 07/12/2019 11:19

Autolus and Freeline are both presenting updates at the ASH conference being held in Orlando this weekend.Looking forward in particular to more data being released by Autolus and progress to date...

[luxaeterna1] 03/12/2019 10:46

The NASDAQ market likes the recent updates from Autolus. Share price up 50% (valuation up $250m) in 1 month.

[brexitplus] 13/11/2019 16:11

LONDON, November 13, 2019 -- Autolus Therapeutics plc (Nasdaq: AUTL), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation programmed T cell therapies, and Noile-Immune Biotech, Inc., Tokyo, Japan, a biotechnology company focusing on the development of innovative cancer immunotherapies, today announced that they have entered into a license agreement whereby Autolus will have the right to develop CAR T cell therapies incorporating Noile-Immune’s PRIME (proliferation-inducing and migration-enhancing) technology secreting both IL-7 and CCL19. The PRIME technology is designed to improve proliferation and trafficking into solid tumors of both engineered CAR T cells as well as the patient’s own T cells.

[brexitplus] 05/11/2019 14:57

Autolus Therapeutics to Present Preclinical Data on AUT06NG at the SITC Annual Meeting

Autolus Therapeutics plc a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation programmed T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer, announced today pre-clinical data on AUTO6NG, the company’s next generation GD2-targeting CAR T cell therapy, at the 34th Annual Meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) being held November 6-10, 2019, in Washington, D.C.AUTO6NG: Next generation GD2-targeting CAR T-cell therapy with improved persistence and insensitivity to TGFb and checkpoint inhibition for relapsed/refractory neuroblastoma.

Background
Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid cancer in children with poor long-term survival in those with high-risk disease.

A currently ongoing phase I clinical study of GD2-targeted CART for refractory/relapsed neuroblastoma (NCT02761915) shows activity against disseminated disease without inducing on target/off tumor toxicity. However, CART persistence was limited and clinical activity transient and incomplete.

Building on the GD2 CAR used in this study, we have developed a next generation T-cell product candidate termed AUTO6NG. The AUTO6NG product consists of 3 distinct populations of GD2-targeted CAR T-cells, produced by dual transduction of T-cells with two separate retroviral vectors. The first vector directs the expression of a GD2-targeting CAR, co-expressed with a constitutively signalling IL7 cytokine receptor (IL7R_CCR) (product A), while the second vector is a tri-cistronic retroviral vector encoding the same GD2 CAR, co-expressed with dominant negative TGFbRII (dnTGFbRII) and truncated SHP2 (dSHP2) (product B). dSHP2 confers resistance to inhibitory signals such as those from PD1.

Methods
Human T-cells were either dual transduced with both vectors yielding a mix of product A/B/A+B (AUTO6NG) or single transduced with each vector individually giving raise to product A or B. Both single and dual transduced CAR T-cells were extensively evaluated in vitro for redirected lysis, cytokine secretion, T-cell proliferation and survival and resistance to immunosuppressive pathways (including TGFb and PD1/PDL1 inhibition) in co-culture assays with GD2-positive and negative tumour cell lines. Additionally, anti-tumour activity of AUTO6NG was evaluated in vivo by intravenous administration in an established neuroblastoma xenograft model in NSG mice.

Results
AUTO6NG T-cells (product A/B/A+B) were highly potent in cytotoxicity assays against GD2 positive tumour cell lines with no differences observed compared with single transduced CAR T-cells (product A or B). Expression of the IL7R_CCR in both AUTO6NG and product A conferred exogenous-cytokine-independent viability and homeostatic proliferation of modified T-cells, without causing autonomous T-cell growth. Furthermore, AUOTO6NG T-cells and product B but not product A proved resistant to both TGFb- and PD1/PDL1-mediated immunosuppression in vitro due to the presence of dnTGFbRII and dSHP2 in those genetically engineered CAR T-cells. Finally, intravenous delivery of AUTO6NG exhibited potent anti-tumour activity and extended survival in NSG mice with established tumour burden.

Conclusions
These results demonstrate the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of AUTO6NG T-cells. The addition of IL7R_CCR, dnTGFbRII and dSHP2 modules to the AUTO6NG product augment its functions by extending T-cell persistence and rendering modified T-cells resistant to TGFb- and PD1/PDL1-driven immune inhibition.