Benzinga | May 11, 2021 12:32PM EDT

Adaptimmune's HiT Program Can Potentially Kill Human Tumor Cells, Animal Study Shows

* Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ: ADAP) has reported first preclinical data from its HiT targeting mesothelin (a tumor-associated antigen), being co-developed with Astellas Pharma (OTC:ALPMF)

* The data were presented at the American Society for Cell and Gene Therapy (ASGCT) meeting.

* Data Highlights: HiTs are CD8 and HLA-independent and kill mesothelin expressing human tumor cells. Data demonstrate that the mesothelin HiT is not dependent on CD8 to kill target cells, and CD4 cells expressing the HiT are cytotoxic towards tumor cells. Data from additional in vitro experiments show that Adaptimmune's HiT is not neutralized by soluble mesothelin, unlike the TRuC construct. HiT T-cells targeting mesothelin induced complete tumor regression in a mouse xenograft tumor model and outperformed a comparator TRuC construct.

* Price Action: ADAP shares are up 2.1% at $4.82 during the market trading session on the last check Tuesday.