Marker Therapeutics Inc (MRKR)

[hyperopia]

Flying, the preclinical results were quite impressive, and I’m far from an expert, but I think the science is compelling. This approach is considered the “holy grail” in that the product is “off the shelf” so there’s no need to remove the patient’s own cells and genetically engineer them and infuse them back into the patient to attack the tumor, so the process is more simple, and theoretically could be even cheaper than Tapimmune’s “natural” T-cell approach, and certainly way less expensive than the 2 current commercial CAR-T treatments (Kymriah and Yescarta), that have a big head start.

But while this approach looks very promising, it’s at a very early stage. Animal models are limited in their ability to mimic the extremely complex process of human carcinogenesis, physiology and progression, and the average rate of successful translation from animal models to human clinical cancer trials is less than 8%. In addition, in the preclinical trials, both agents were injected directly into the tumor, but in the human trial, the anti-OX40 mAb will be given by IV, so this may not prove as effective. If the same results are replicated in humans, then it would be worth keeping an eye on.