Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:ADAP) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Elliot Norry: So of course, I think we have to take that into consideration with respect to positioning and that data is fantastic for patients with urothelial cancer received standing ovation at ESMO. So we of course, have to consider that. I think that the idea that pembrolizumab and PADCEV are being moved clearly toward the first-line space, opens up a lot of opportunity in second line plus treatment. So from the standpoint of bladder cancer in the patients that we enroll, we do expect that some of them will have potentially been treated with that type of treatment regimen going forward. But if we’re able to demonstrate with a single therapy, the kind, a one-time therapy, the kind of response rate that we have in patients with very advanced disease we think that, the movement of pembrolizumab into first line and chemotherapy out of first-line treatment likely opens up the space for more opportunity if nothing else.

Yanan Zhu: Very helpful. On the PRIME announcement, I was just curious – a couple of curious questions. How does the sensitivity of this TCR to PRAME compare with your MAGE-A4 TCR sensitivity against MAGE-A4? And then I was just curious about the positioning potentially T cell therapies in melanoma, there’s tails in late-stage review by FDA and obviously it looks like the melanoma data today from a competitor, it looks also quite encouraging. Hopefully, you would also show even a demonstration of differentiation from the competitor. But how do we think about how these T cell therapies position against each other in a melanoma setting? Thank you.

Adrian Rawcliffe: Okay. I’m going to ask Jo to take the question on sensitivity relative to MAGE-A4. I’ll then comment briefly on the emerging field of cell therapy in solid tumors. And of course, we are happy to set up a follow-up call for any other questions you might have as well? Jo?

Jo Brewer: Yes. So the frame TCR sensitivity is very similar to the MAGEA4-1, actually slightly better. So we anticipate that’s one of the things that makes us very confident in this TCR. Obviously, every tumor action is slightly different. So it does depend on how the protein is expressed and how well it’s processed. So you can’t, they don’t read exactly one-to-one in that sensitivity analysis. So I think we’re very confident that it will react to relatively low levels of antigens, which is really positive.

Adrian Rawcliffe: With respect to the competitive landscape, I would put both the TIL therapy and the opportunity for PRIME in melanoma, actually in a much broader context. This is – if you think about what’s happened in the last year or two, it’s become clear that cell therapies in solid tumors can demonstrate incredible response rates in very late-stage patients. And that gives, I think, confidence that this is a modality of therapy is here to stay. If you roll forward a year from now, there’s high probability that you will have therapies – two cell therapies in the solid tumor space on the market; afami-cel – our afami-cel and obviously the TIL program. Coming behind that could be letters that are coming behind that could be our CD8 program in ovarian cancer, coming behind that is head and neck and bladder cancer, coming behind that is perhaps Immatics’ PRAME program in melanoma.

And I just think you’re seeing a move to established cell therapy in these spaces as a modality that can have significant benefits for patients who have very few other options. And I’m looking forward to initially the TILs and subsequently the engineered cell therapies presence in spaces like melanoma, because I think unlike sarcoma, which is a relatively rare focused indication, these are much larger indications and I think establishing them in those much larger populations will be really important for the field.

Yanan Zhu: Great. Thank you for all the color.

Adrian Rawcliffe: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Following question is from Peter Lawson from Barclays. Please go ahead.

Peter Lawson: Great. Thanks for taking the questions. On the ovarian cancer program, would we potentially get interim analysis to that in the second half of 2024? Just if you can kind of give us any time lines around the data sets and kind of how much – how many patients would see for ovarian cancer? And we got a follow-up.