Sana Biotechnology Presentations at 2021 ASH Annual Meeting Highlight Progress with Platforms and CAR T Cell Programs

Hypoimmune CAR T cells evade both innate and adaptive immune systems in murine models, even in animals with pre-existing immunity to CAR T cells

CD8- and CD4-targeted fusosomes generated functional CAR T cells in vivo, demonstrating T cell-specific delivery and therapeutic function in animal models

SEATTLE, Dec. 12, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sana Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ: SANA), a company focused on creating and delivering engineered cells as medicines, presented data at the 63rd American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, taking place from Saturday, December 11 to Tuesday, December 14, 2021, which highlighted further progress with key technologies supporting Sana’s in vivo and ex vivo CAR T cell programs.

“The data presented at ASH showcase the progress we are making with Sana’s CAR T cell programs,” said Terry Fry, M.D., Sana’s Head of T Cell Therapeutics. “The hypoimmune and fusogen technologies are designed to address significant challenges that lead to sub-optimal patient outcomes and prevent widespread utilization of cell and gene therapies, including cell persistence and cell-specific delivery. We continue to move these potential therapies toward clinical trials in patients, with a goal of filing two INDs as early as next year.”

On Saturday, December 11, Sonja Schrepfer, M.D., Ph.D., Sana’s Head of Hypoimmune Platform, presented a poster (Abstract 1690) titled “Engineered hypoimmune allogeneic CAR T cells exhibit innate and adaptive immune evasion even after sensitization in humanized mice and retain potent anti-tumor activity.” Data demonstrated continued progress with Sana’s hypoimmune allogeneic CAR T cell platform, showing in murine models that these gene-modified CAR T cells targeting CD19 can evade both the innate and adaptive immune systems without any evidence of a change in their ability to eliminate leukemia. This immune evasion was present in naïve subjects as well as in sensitized subjects that had previously rejected non-hypoimmune CAR T cells. In the study, the hypoimmune allogeneic CD19 CAR T cells did not induce activation of the adaptive immune system, T cells or B cells, in the treated subjects (p