Bengaluru-based startup Immuneel Therapeutics has announced early results for Varnimcabtagene autoleucel (IMN-003A) from the IMAGINE study – India’s first Phase 2 and industry sponsored trial for a novel autologous CD19 directed CAR-T cell therapy in patients with relapsed / refractory B cell malignancies.

The early study reported results from the first 10 patients of the planned 24 patients to be enrolled. Both adult and children with acute leukemia as well as lymphoma patients post median 2 lines of treatment, including in post-transplant setting were enrolled. 80% of patients experienced complete clinical response at Day 28. At Day 90, the results from IMAGINE showed an overall response rate of 77%, with 6 out of 9 evaluable patients demonstrating complete responses.

With this early clinical data, IMAGINE has demonstrated excellent early outcome for treatment with Varnimcabtagene autoleucel.

The trial is active and recruiting at multiple centres in India. These early results were presented on December 11-12, 2022 at the 64th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting & Exposition (ASH) held at New Orleans, USA.

“IMAGINE is an exciting trial for us in India, and that builds onto the excellent global data-set for Varnimcabtagene autoleucel, especially including data both in first relapse and post-transplant setting. We are thrilled with the early data, and 70% Complete Response seen in this data-set, is on par with global benchmarks and transformative for Indian patients” commented Dr Arun Anand, Director & Chief Operating Officer, Immuneel Therapeutics.