Tempest Therapeutics (NASDAQ: TPST) announced it has entered into an exclusive option agreement with Hebei Senlang Biotechnology Co., Ltd. to license a CD7-targeted lentiviral vector platform and a portfolio of in vivo CAR-T product candidates.
Under the terms of the deal, Tempest gains access to two delivery platforms: Senlang's lentiviral system, designed to support durable CAR-cell generation, and Tempest's own targeted lipid nanoparticle (LNP) platform, which offers a potentially repeatable approach to transient CAR expression.
Senlang's platform uses targeted lentiviral vectors to deliver CAR transgenes directly into endogenous CD7-positive T cells and natural killer cells inside the patient, producing CAR-T and CAR-NK cells in vivo and bypassing the individualized cell collection and external manufacturing steps required by conventional autologous CAR-T therapies.
The licensed portfolio includes a BCMA/GPRC5D dual-targeting in vivo CAR-T candidate currently in Phase 1 dose-escalation for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. Additional candidates under the arrangement target hematologic malignancies and autoimmune diseases.
Clinical data disclosed as of August 25 showed early observations at the current highest evaluable dose demonstrated generation and expansion of CAR-T cells in vivo. No Grade 3 or higher cytokine release syndrome or immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome were reported, though patient enrollment and follow-up remain ongoing.
"Upon exercise of the option, the CD7-targeted lentiviral platform would complement our targeted LNP platform, providing two distinct approaches to generating CAR-T cells directly within patients," said Matt Angel, Tempest's president and chief executive officer.
Shares of Tempest closed at $0.7554, down 3.68%, before rising to $0.9401 in after-hours trading, a gain of 24.45%.
